"Pain Medication Ran Out, Two Days Ago..."

Two days ago my pain medication ran out. I am in constant, chronic musculoskeletal pain from a serious motorcycle accident in my early twenties (nearly 38 years ago) that left me disabled. I was told I would never walk again and that I’d lose my right leg, but I’m a fighter and I was determined, so after an initial 4.5 months in hospital, followed by a lengthy recuperation and a plaster cast from the waist down, the government tells me nowadays I am absolutely fine, because I can and like walking my dogs.

Lately, I have gone blind in one eye due to a severe retinal detachment caused by overworking. I am self-employed and there is little option for me, except to continue doing so. My eye is currently filled with silicone oil, in order to try to keep it from collapsing and at least two further operations lie before me. After each of these I will have to spend five days flat on my face, as I needed to do the last time.

I was transferred to Trinity without consultation from a small practice that closed, with a GP I liked and who helped a lot, through my ongoing struggles with suicidal ideation. Although she is at the new practice I have never seen her again. I was assigned a different GP I have not met or spoken to, despite my ongoing involvement with the health service. On the three occasions I have had direct contact with Trinity Medical Centre, I have been faced with three unfamiliar doctors. Currently I am suffering badly with one I presume to be a locum, since my phantom GP has now been granted maternity leave!

I am stable on the medication prescribed to me by pain specialists at the Pain Clinic, although it barely does the job and there are much stronger alternatives for someone of my age and in my position, that doubtless I would receive if I were an animal and under veterinary care. Still, the new locum has taken a dislike to it, firstly removing it from my repeat medication and now refusing to issue it, despite a request first thing Monday morning and repeated calls to the medical centre over the last two days.

I am not supposed to stop taking this medication suddenly. Obviously, it has been an uncomfortable and painful interlude. It is now Thursday night and in the unlikely event my prescription is even issued tomorrow, the pharmacy does not keep these tablets in stock, so we’re looking at next Monday, earliest.

Although I am sure Trinity will respond with all the reasons they are not at fault, I’d like to thank them for an unhappy week and ‘caring’ so assiduously for my welfare. I understand the NHS is underfunded and sing its praises for the help it has given me. I am lucky to be born and raised in a country where such facilities are available. My grandfather (b. 1901), contributed before this was compulsory. It takes seconds to issue a prescription and ultimately, quality of life is a greater consideration than a slap on the wrist. The human cost of underestimating these duties is something folk ought to know.