'I can't do anything': Winnipeg man pleads for cataract surgery
A Manitoba man is sharing the challenges he is facing with cataracts, and says he is desperate to have the surgery, noting he has only 10 per cent of his vision left.
Kent Roy was diagnosed in the spring of 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Manitoba.
“I can’t cook, I can’t clean, I can’t bathe,” he told CTV News Thursday. “Everything that I used to be able to do, I can’t do anything.”
Roy’s had a challenging life. He lives with chronic pain that is managed with painkillers, he has had lung surgery in the past and now he can’t see. He said the only person who comes to take care of him is the pastor from his church, but they are now gone for the winter.
Roy also said he doesn’t leave his small apartment these days. He struggles to find the volume knob on his radio and the cup of tea sitting on the coffee table. Roy has also stopped using the oven to cook because he knows it isn’t safe.
“I can’t see, [it’s] the number one thing afflicting me,” he said.
Roy is not alone; in Manitoba, the waitlist for the procedure is long and has only gotten longer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For cataract surgery, we are looking at a waitlist of approximately 10,000,” said Dr. Peter MacDonald Wednesday at a news conference giving the first update from the province’s Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force.
Approximately 4,000 cataract surgeries in Manitoba have been picked up by a private surgical centre, but to address the rest of the cases, more funding is needed for both the private and public centres according to Dr. Jennifer Rahman.
In Manitoba, the hub for eye surgery is the Misericordia Health Centre. Rahman told CTV News surgical centres get an allotment of funding to do a certain number of cases each year, and if they go over that number, the operating rooms are shut down.
“Of course, this is going to be expensive but it’s an investment in the society and in the health of our communities and we’re not doing great,” she said.
Rahman, who is the president of Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, told CTV News the pre-pandemic national benchmark for cataract surgery wait time was four months. A 2020 report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) showed Manitoba is second last at getting patients done in that time at 21-per cent.
Rahman said the pre-pandemic median wait time for cataract surgery in Manitoba was 10 months; By February of last year, the wait had already ballooned to 20 months.
“It’s almost two years of waiting,” she said. “From the time that you get diagnosed with symptomatic cataract that needs to be surgically managed, to the time that you actually get managed, and during that time you’re going to suffer with all kinds of things affecting your lifestyle, your livelihood, and even your safety.”
Rahman also said the longer cataract surgeries are put off, the more complicated they can get.
After about two years of waiting, Roy is desperate to get his cataract surgery done. He said he is losing the mental capacity to cope with his day-to-day life because even the simplest tasks are frustrating.
“I am at the point where it’s life or death,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
2 military horses that broke free and ran loose across London are in serious condition
Two military horses that bolted and ran miles through the streets of London after being spooked by construction noise and tossing their riders were in a serious condition and required operations, a British government official said Thursday.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
Made-in-Newfoundland vodka claims top prize at worldwide competition
A Newfoundland-made vodka has been named one of the world’s best by judges at this year’s World Vodka Awards.