Rosina was fit, healthy and in her early fifties in 2016 when her left thigh started to niggle. As she had a history of depression following the tragic passing of her husband of 23 years and her GP thought she was too young to have hip problems, he thought it might be a symptom of her depression and prescribed anti-depressants. The pain got worse and worse, and the years slipped by. By 2018, Rosina wasn’t sleeping. She was struggling at work, and she felt totally hopeless about the future. “I was working as a substitute teacher and was loading up on a cocktail of difene, paracetamol, and other meds just to get through the day. Supervising exams I would have to hold onto the desks just to walk around. The pain became so unbearable I had to leave my job.” Rosina says she had no quality of life, she didn’t think she could be fixed and by this stage a deep, dark depression had really set in. The care at Cappagh changed everything An MRI in May 2021, some five years after Rosina’s first niggle, showed that there was no cartilage. The only option was a hip replacement, and she was told the best place to have it done was the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh. Rosina couldn’t wait to get onto the operating table and close her eyes “Mr Cashman told me that the pain would be completely gone after the operation but honestly, I didn’t believe him. I had lived with this pain for six years; it had become so normalised that I couldn’t imagine my life without it. Boy was I pleasantly surprised.” After Rosina was wheeled into recovery, she put the lack of pain down to the morphine she was on, but she says she has never had any pain since that day.
Commenting on her experience at the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh, Rosina says; “I can’t speak highly enough about the team at Cappagh. From the people who come round with the tea to my medical team, for someone like me who suffers from anxiety and who had been dismissed for so long, the care, compassion and empathy they showed made all the difference. I love my new hip.”
So how has Rosina’s life changed? Rosina celebrated her 60th birthday late last year and she has a family holiday to Cobh planned in the summer. She is pain-free and back working as a substitute teacher. And she says her scar is almost invisible. Rosina wanted to share her story so that the generous supporters of the Cappagh Hospital Foundation and NOHC understand the real and tangible difference donations make to people like her.
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