Faced with a doctor's demand that she lose weight before even getting on a long waiting list for surgery, a Porters Lake woman is flying to Cuba this week to get both her knees replaced.
Diane Paul was diagnosed this past spring with orteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that causes her considerable pain. When her doctor referred her to a specialist, Ms. Paul got two nasty surprises.
"He said that it would be a year and that he would not operate on me until I lost some weight," she said Saturday. The Halifax surgeon told her being too heavy can cause problems when people are anesthetized.
"Believe me, I wish I could have it done in Canada," Ms. Paul said in an interview Saturday.
But the heavy-set 57-year-old woman said the painkillers and other prescription drugs she's taking prevent her from dropping some pounds.
"Plus, you need to exercise," she said. "I can't exercise with my legs like this. I tried."
She wouldn't say how much she weighs now and how many pounds the specialist told her to lose. Instead of losing weight and then going on a long local waiting list, Ms. Paul will pay $19,000 to get the surgery done in Cuba. That's about one-quarter what it would cost in Fort Myers, Fla., where she spends the winter with her husband.
"We had to do some juggling with our family finances in order for me to do this, because it's not cheap."
She seemed to be willing to accept the added risk of going under the knife without losing weight.
"I'm not worried about that," Ms. Paul said. "If it's my time to go, it's my time to go."
The retiree said she hopes the operation will relieve the "constant throbbing" in her knees.
"When I get up and when I sit down, you can hear bone on bone," she said. "The pain is excruciating."
Ms. Paul will fly to Havana on Thursday with her husband, Vern.
She'll stay in a hospital there for two weeks before spending another two weeks at a five-star resort on the Caribbean island.
"I'm going to get there and they'll do X-rays and testing and, when that is finished, I'm operated on the very next day."
Ms. Paul read a magazine article two weeks ago about a Winnipeg company that arranges operations in Cuba.
The Winnipeg company offered to give her the two-week stay at a resort for free if she would talk to reporters about her decision to undergo surgery in Havana instead of Halifax.
She has been told there will be a doctor at the resort and all the equipment needed for physiotherapy.
"It's almost like I'm being treated like a princess," Ms. Paul said during the interview on her deck overlooking the ocean.
Ms. Paul, who holds dual Canadian-United States citizenship, knows American authorities can fine U.S. citizens for travelling to Cuba or doing business with the Communist nation; doing so is considered a crime south of the border.
But she isn't worried about getting caught.
"They don't know my married name," she said.
Ms. Paul said she has no qualms about heading to Cuba for surgery.
"I'm not afraid to go," she said.
"I figure you knock me out and take whatever you want out of me. I don't care. I don't have a problem with anesthesia. I have all the faith in the world in these doctors."
Her friends aren't so sure she's doing the right thing.
"I have a girlfriend in Calgary who's totally upset I'm doing this," Ms. Paul said.
"She's, like, beside herself. And she said, ‘You make me a promise that when you get there, if something doesn't look right to you or something doesn't feel right to you, that you will not do this.' "
She assured her friend that's the way she will approach the surgery in Cuba. "I may sound like I'm gullible. But I'm not gullible," Ms. Paul said.
"I have faith." |
