Goodmayes resident pain free after 10 years

Company news

Oct 06, 2015

Able to get a full night’s sleep and free of the morphine that had helped her manage a decade of pain, Karen Monteiro now feels like a new woman as she jets off to the Caribbean and it is thanks to the team at North East London NHS Treatment Centre.

Mrs Monteiro, from Goodmayes, had lost 10 years to excruciating pain in her hip and lower back, using prescribed morphine to control the pain. “I was miserable and not much fun to be with,” she recalls. “The pain was so bad there were times when I sat and sobbed. I had a job working in a local pub that I Ioved, but, after nine years, I had to give it up because I just could not stand for any length of time.

“I tried other jobs but the pain just meant I couldn’t work.  I was determined not to give up and in the end I found at job with the bookmakers Ladbroke’s where I could sit.”

Over the years her condition worsened and she could no longer sleep in a bed but instead cat-napped on her sofa. “I didn’t get a full night’s sleep for four years, it was so tiring,” she said.

Following an X-ray, that revealed degeneration in her hip joint, Mrs Monteiro was referred to North East London NHS Treatment Centre. “I was stunned when I arrived, it was very clean and very efficient. Everyone was warm, friendly and very helpful, I really could not have asked for better care. The surgeon, Mr Ahad, and his team were very re-assuring.”

The operation took more than four hours as the team worked to rebuild Mrs Monteiro’s hip. She said: “I left surgery after 5pm on Saturday and the team on the ward were there for me all through the night. They kept checking on me and they were really wonderful.”

Mrs Monteiro was amazed when she was able to leave the centre on Monday afternoon after physiotherapists had worked with her, teaching her how to walk up stairs and use her walking sticks.

Intensive physiotherapy followed with the team visiting her at home over several weeks helping her to rehabilitate as well as checking on the progress of the wound.

“Again they were very professional, caring and friendly,” she said “And I was soon back up on my feet. I am now back at work and don’t need to sit down.”

She is now looking forward to a well-earned break in the Caribbean where, a year ago, she had been unable to enjoy her daughter’s 21^st birthday celebrations to the full because she needed to use a wheelchair. “This holiday is going to be very different, I am full of energy and can walk anywhere and, thanks to the tiny scaring Mr Ahad was able to achieve, I can even pack beachwear!”

Hospital director Ashley Livesey said: “I am delighted that Mrs Monteiro has recovered so well and so rapidly. Around 98 per cent of our patients tell us they would recommend the centre to friends and family requiring treatment and, like Mrs Monteiro, they have been impressed not only with the levels of professionalism shown by the team but also their caring and positive attitudes.”