A Newry woman has had her bowel removed after "spending years begging doctors to carry out tests" on a possible blockage.
Yolanda Kernoghan is currently on a seven-week waiting list for corrective surgery following a series of infections and problems that have arisen following her bowel removal surgery.
Her husband Kilian said over the past few years she had suffered from issues with her bowel and had been finding it very difficult to eat. At one point she went nine and a half weeks without solid food.
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She had been back and forth to the doctor "begging" them to carry out tests, with "her concerns always being dismissed" and her being sent home without treatment.
Just under four months ago she was taken to hospital with further issues where tests were eventually carried out and it was discovered that she had three severe blockages in her bowel, and because nothing had been done for so long it would not be possible to treat and her bowel had to be removed.
Kilian said: "Yolanda had been begging for treatment for years prior to her surgery but every time she was sent home from the hospital without any tests being carried out.
"Then when they finally were, it was too late for her to get the right surgery and her bowel had to be removed due to the severe blockages that were there.
"During the surgery work was also carried out on her pancreas due to her pancreatitis, which has now caused further problems and since then we have been in and out of hospital every week due to the infections she is constantly developing."
Kilian says he believes his wife had been discharged from hospital following her surgery too quickly, just a few days after her 10-hour operation.
He continued: "Just a few days after she went through gruelling surgery, she was being discharged home when she was in no state to do so.
"We have had to return to the hospital five times since due to infections that have developed following the surgery and Yolanda is in so much pain that she has been screaming in agony.
"Our children are very distressed seeing their mum in so much pain, but every time she goes to the hospital she is discharged a few days later in the same condition.
"We have now managed to get a referral for further treatment at the Mater Hospital, but there is close to an eight-week waiting list for this and we have no idea when we might be able to get her the help that she desperately needs."
Due to Yolanda's condition, Kilian has had to leave his job of 10 years in order to support his family properly.
He continued: "Due to needing to care for Yolanda and our children I was finding it very difficult to continue in work as I wasn't allowed to work around their needs.
"But the levels of care that Yolanda requires, as she is unable to do anything for herself at the moment, means that I need to be home with her and our children.
"I just hope that something can be sorted soon so she is able to get the help that she needs because she can't continue to suffer like this."
Yolanda's mum Florence has also raised concerns regarding her treatment, saying that it has impacted in her family and their mental health.
She said that her daughter feels like "she is living a nightmare that she cannot wake up from".
A Southern Health and Social Care Trust spokesperson said: “Whilst we are unable to comment on any individual patient, we take all concerns about the quality of our care extremely seriously and we encourage any patient who has concerns about our services to make a complaint by contacting our Service User Feedback team.
"Each complaint is fully investigated before we send a comprehensive response back to the person making the complaint. The team can be contacted by telephoning (028) 37564600 or by emailing serviceuserfeedback@southerntrust.hscni.net ”
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