CALEB NICKERSON
While massive numbers of health care workers have been mobilized to fight this pandemic, elective surgeries, which already have lengthy wait times, have been postponed.
According to CISSSO communications agent Marie-Pier Després, there have been 1,875 operations delayed across the Outaouais, however she said that 28 users were affected in the Pontiac sector. She added that the region’s operating room capacity was at 67 per cent, as of Jan. 26.
Mansfield resident Jacques Céré is one of those in line for surgery. He needs a double knee replacement.
He and his wife Christine Bérubé spoke with THE EQUITY in December about how they’ve been coping with the wait. Sitting around the kitchen table in their home, both described how Jacques had been walking earlier in the year with the help of a cane, but was now using leg braces and a walker.
“We should say though … in the last three months, it went downhill,” Bérubé said.
Céré said that he had always been active, having worked various jobs in the forestry industry for much of his life.
“I was always doing something, eh? The big thing was the flood in 2019,” he explained.
The couple lost their home in Davidson that spring and Christine said that the physical strain of cleaning out their home and moving twice took their toll on her husband’s joints.
“We were in Davidson, right at the wharf,” she said. “That [probably], made it faster. He worked very hard because all the first floor was taken out so we had to clean that. We moved into a cottage for 10 months, then we were able to buy here, so you know, furniture and moving … I guess in May there, that’s when he collapsed the first time and he realized for the first time that the knees were getting worse and worse.”
Céré said he remembered moving some sheds to his new home from his old property and not being able to walk for the next few days.
“When we [brought] the last shed here, I went in for supper and I couldn’t get up for three days,” he said.
It was around this time that his physician referred him to a specialist for surgery. In addition to his knees, Céré also has arthritis in his hands, and the combination of the two makes it difficult for him to stabilize himself.
By the time he saw a specialist in October, he had gone from walking with a cane to having a brace on one leg. Eventually the pressure he put on his other leg forced him to get another brace and switch to using a walker.
“[I] put more weight on that one, it was my good leg now it’s my bad one,” he said.
Bérubé said that she was worried how her husband would fare while waiting for surgery.
“We’re afraid that he won’t be able to walk anymore because now with two braces … it’s still very painful for him,” she said. “He cannot drive anymore.”
Céré already takes pain medication throughout the day, and the couple said that he had recently been approved for an increased dose. In addition to the loss of independence, he also lost a social outlet, as he had worked as a part-time adapted transport driver for TransporAction for six years. He joked about his friends having to chauffeur him around now.
“My friend wanted to pick me up next week,” he said. “I said, two months ago I carried people and now you’re carrying me.”
Bérubé said that the specialist told them that the earliest date for surgery would be November 2021, but it could be longer depending on how the pandemic plays out.
“It is delayed and delayed because of COVID,” she said. “But since that time, Jacques has got worse and worse.”
Formerly a very active man, both Céré and his wife were concerned with how quickly his condition had worsened. In early January he had to make the switch to a wheelchair. Luckily they had already secured a lift for their home and had a walk-in shower installed in their bathroom.
Despite remaining upbeat throughout the interview, Céré said he and other people he knows in similar positions are in for a long haul.
“It’s a long time to wait,” he said.
