Labourer waiting in pain for surgery

The once active labourer with the Arima Borough Corporation is anxiously awaiting surgery for a spinal injury he sustained last year.

He had hoped to have surgery at the end of last year but this hope was dashed when doctors notified him they did not have the plate for his neck.

“I am very worried about my job. I want to go back to work,” Castillo said in an interview last Tuesday at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH).

Castillo was injured in 2001, when he was hit by a maxi taxi while picking up garbage. At the time he was working on a garbage truck. He was taken to the Arima Health Facility where he was examined, given Panadol and sent home. However, not long after his neck started swelling and he began experiencing pain, his fingers became twisted.

On June 30, 2001, Castillo was admitted to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where an X-ray showed he had a crack in a bone in his neck. Surgery was done and Castillo subsequently recuperated. He got a medical indicating he was fit but had to appear before a medical board of the corporation to determine if he should continue working. He passed and resumed work as a labourer.

However, January, last year, Castillo was again injured. He slipped and fell while operating a power-hose and started getting pains in his neck.

He began attending the medical outpatient clinic of the Port-of-Spain hospital from February. Castillo was referred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex for a MRI, in September, and the results caused the doctor to give an immediate referral to the surgical out-patient clinic at PoSGH. At this time, his condition had deteriorated and he was unable to feed himself and use the toilet without assistance.

The MRI found dislocation of vertebrae resulting in “spinal cord impingement.” In November, Castillo’s family was advised to get four pints of blood in preparation for surgery.

He continued attending the surgical clinic where he got a prescription for pain medicine. Castillo was not warded because (between November and April) the family was told no beds were available.

During a clinic appointment on April 11, Castillo’s sister Catherine began enquiring about surgery since a doctor had advised her that Castillo would soon be warded for surgery.

On April 25, Castillo was admitted to ward 54 but was subsequently told that the plate to be surgically put into his neck was not available in TT.

He was discharged from the hospital on May 5. “I feel rejected. This is nonsense,” he said.

Castillo’s sister, Catherine did not collect him at the hospital although she was contacted.

She told Newsday she is annoyed that the hospital prepared her brother for surgery and raised his hope without first checking for the equipment necessary.

“Before going to hospital, he could walk. Now both his feet are swollen and his fingers are bent.”

On May 11, Castillo’s family took him home after a cousin who was visiting at the hospital was told that the Arima police would he contacted because he was abandoned. Hospital staff said his bed was needed.