Page 16 - COBH EDITION 2nd NOVEMBER DIGITAL VERSION

I had enough of this messing, so I took the matter in hand and contacted a surgeon in the
Mater Private Hospital in Dublin and arranged the robotic surgery. Two weeks later, I was on
my way home to recover.
As of now, there are over 700,000 people on hospital waiting lists. I was one of those and I
would still be part of that number if I didn’t rescue myself from the system. I have been told
by those working in that health system that it is broken, but we knew that already.

There can’t be much joined up thinking going on when there are two hospitals less than 2km
apart, both doing Isotope Bone Scans, but one has a two and a half month waiting and the
other has none. I was told by a practitioner that the further you go up the chain of command,
the less understanding they have of the reality of what it’s like at the coal face and the less
they care.
Meanwhile, those who do care are blue in the face from trying to make things better for their
patients and their frustration is obvious. Those who are responsible for fixing it, don’t know
how to. Simon Harris strikes me as a genuine character, but he is struggling to make a dif-
ference while the gurus in the HSE are obviously out of their depth, and they can’t solve the
problem either.
Meanwhile the 700,000 people who need to be treated for whatever ails them are worried
about their future and so they should be. Some will have to wait up to two years for their ap-
pointments and could well depart this world before they get to see the relevant person. It’s not
good enough but we already knew that too.
Now, back to the reason that I am sharing my experience. I received my diagnosis without
having any of the recognised symptoms and that surprised me. I was going along, blissfully
unaware that there was anything wrong with me and only for the PSA test, I would have been
in serious trouble. I’m not the only one.
I have met lots of men in the last few months who received the same diagnosis as I did, and
most of them had no symptoms either. I thought mine was an unusual case, but it appears
that this is very common, so the message is clear. It is vital that men of a certain age, have
their PSA checked regularly by their GP. They should not wait until they experience some prob-
lems with their waterworks because by then it could be too late.
Men need to be proactive and have themselves checked. It’s a simple blood test that could
save their lives.