82-year-old Cape Bretoner afraid he won't last to get needed surgery

An 82-year-old man in New Victoria, Cape Breton, says he's living in constant pain while waiting for surgery to remove his gallbadder.

Lloyd Hogan says that the wait list is too long and he's afraid it's putting his life in danger.

"I got the pain continuously." 

Hogan was rushed by ambulance to the Glace Bay Hospital a month ago and spent a day and half there undergoing various tests.

Then he was sent home, but his son, John, says his father needs an operation.

Hogan was told he had a gallstone in his gallbladder and needs surgery, but that he had to be put "on a list," John Hogan recalled.

"He's 82 years old. What kind of list are you going to put him on?" 

No pain meds

John Hogan says his father was released from the hospital with instructions to wait for a call for surgery.

"They told him to go home, force yourself to eat and drink, no pain medication."

Lloyd Hogan says he has lost more than 30 pounds over the past four weeks.

He says he can't eat and he's getting weaker by the day.

"I am down to 126 pounds," he said. "I am just going down the hill and I can't get around."

Months to wait

The wait time for most consults for gallbladder surgery at Glace Bay Hospital is 87 days, according to the provincial government website. The wait time for surgery after the consult is 69 days.

That is roughly comparable to many other hospitals in the province.

The longest wait times for a gallbladder consult — at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, the Dartmouth General and the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney — are roughly six months.

Most patients in the QEII and the Cape Breton Regional get their surgery three months after that, while in Dartmouth it could be another five months.

The elder Hogan is afraid he doesn't have much time to spare.

"I figure I am going to die. I am going to rot away," he said.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority says if a patient on a waiting list needs medical attention, he should see his family doctor or go to the nearest hospital.