Waterloo region patients frustrated, in pain waiting for elective procedures to resume

Anne Vermeyden was counting down the days until her surgery. 

Vermeyden, 34, has been living for years with chronic pain from a herniated disc. After trying physiotherapy to relieve the problem,  a date was set for a microdiscectomy to fix the bulging spinal disc in February. 

But when the Kitchener, Ont., woman called the hospital to confirm what she needed to do to prepare for the procedure, she learned it had been postponed — with no new date in sight. 

"It's really frustrating," said Vermeyden. 

"I do feel like my life is in limbo, or purgatory."

Vermeyden is far from the only one enduring long waits for surgery and procedures in Ontario that are considered non-urgent.

In early January, the province reinstated Directive #2, instructing hospitals to ramp down non-urgent surgeries and procedures to free up beds for COVID-19-positive patients. 

Within just one month, 2,300 additional patients across Waterloo region and Wellington County had their surgeries put on hold. 

At Grand River Hospital, Waterloo region's largest hospital, the wait list now stands at about 2,500 surgeries and procedures. Cambridge Memorial Hospital has a wait list of about 1,900, the vast majority of which are related to cataracts. 

At Guelph General Hospital, the list is at about 4,900, with nearly half of them cataract cases. 

Michelle Lopes, 31, is waiting for laparoscopic surgery. Gina Dilworth, 53, is waiting for a hysterectomy. 

Late last year, both women booked dates for their operations for early 2022. Both of them have been postponed. 

"I'm miserable," said Lopes, who's in Kitchener. She's waiting for surgery to treat endometriosis. 

"When you wake up in pain every single day, and you feel like you're going to vomit, and you're dizzy and you're kind of trapped being home, because you don't feel well enough to leave the house — it sucks."