122 Marlene

My story is in support of Aly Cook’s submission to the petitions committee requesting That the House of Representatives call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry in the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccine use in New Zealand and for those in parliament who may read it. I give my full permission for my story to be shared publicly as part of Aly’s submission to be eventually posted on the NZ Parliament Petitions website.

Marlene (68 yrs at time of vaccination)
Dose 1: Pfizer BioNTech
Dose 2: Pfizer BioNTech
Dose 3: Pfizer BioNTech

My story began the morning after the last booster jab.

My name is Marlene, I was 68 years old then and a carer for my husband Nigel who is a cancer patient and was going through a very tough ride at that time.

The very next morning after the jab my left knee became very painful, I have never had knee problems in my life to that date so immediately recognised a reaction to the new booster injection.

I mentioned the pain to my pharmacist who said there had been patients experiencing joint pain from the booster jab, so I had a look online and could see some people commenting on their post jab pain. I could get no relief from the pain due to AF, I take a blood thinner, and paracetamol was my only choice, even natural remedies are not for me. Paracetamol was not effective as it felt muscular and needed Ibuprofen or something similar. I then tried patches to take down the swelling in my knee, you could see there was fluid under the skin.

I went to the doctor and told him I knew it was a reaction to the Booster injection, it was obvious he couldn’t say anything, so I was sent for a scan to eliminate DVT. By this time my knee was very swollen and my varicose veins behind my knee were bulbous and looked ready to burst.

The scan revealed a ‘bakers’ cyst’ which they told me would burst and go away eventually, keep taking paracetamol. This was taking a toll at home because I needed to make sure my husband, Nigel, was medicated and looked after, as he can go downhill very quickly, and I needed rest myself.

A short time later my right knee became painful and started swelling exactly the same as the left, I returned to the doctor, now on crutches to show him swollen knee, still telling him I considered this a result of the boost jab and once again fearing DVT. He sent me for a scan with the result being it was maybe another bakers cyst but relieved there was no thrombosis as I have varicose veins on both knees. I had to give away my exercise of riding my e bike twice a week, which was also my head space time, and use crutches to get around.

During this time Nigel had sepsis and was taken to hospital and had a wound in his arm which needed a district nurse twice a week, so I just had to move through the pain in the hope that it would ease as the booster medication was waning out of my system.

For almost a year I had to live like that and my thighs from my knees up became enlarged and my varicose veins were ugly swollen red lumps, very scary, and I could only move around with a crutch for support.

We have to travel to Dunedin quite often for Nigel’s treatment and it was particularly painful to drive with both knees in pain, but I just had to do it, there was no medical help for me with this. As we neared the end of 12 months and aged 69 the pain was more bearable and I could move around with a stick ,so I decided to walk through the pain and see if I could change this as I felt the booster was nearing the end of its use in my system by now .We got a small dog to give us a bit of joy which forced me to walk each day and daily I got further and further and gradually the swelling went down but the pain is there every day. I have got back on my bike as much as I can and walk our sweet little dog each day, still look after my husband making sure his life is comfortable.

Our little dog gives us so much joy, he was the only way I could get back out there, but I have to use a stick now to ease the pain, mainly in the right leg still, and at my age I am so aware that I must keep moving or everything will stop.

I have always been active and up until this booster shot I had been cycling for 8 years up to about 14 kms a couple of times a week on a gear bike, now it’s an e bike but still better than not at all.

This was a very bad time for me trying to cope with everything I had going on and at times I had to push through the tears to keep going for Nigel, nights were worse so the people responsible need to get their head out of the sand and acknowledge for some of us it was hell.

Regards
Marlene

Informed Consent

From: https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/health-a-z/i/informed-consent/#Overview

Informed consent is the process of talking about options so you can make an informed decision about your health care. This includes the option of saying no to a treatment or procedure.

Key points:

You have the right to make an informed choice about your health care.

Informed consent is an ongoing process of talking and asking questions between you, your doctor or other healthcare provider and, sometimes, your family/whānau.

To help you decide whether you want a treatment or procedure, your healthcare provider must give you all the information you need to make up your mind.

This includes how the treatment or procedure would help your health condition and what the risks of the treatment are.
There are a few situations where you may be treated without consent, such as in an emergency.

What is informed consent?

Informed consent is the process of talking and asking questions until you have enough information to make a decision about your healthcare options. This includes the option of saying no to having a treatment (such as medicine) or a procedure (such as an operation).

To give informed consent, you must know enough about your condition and the treatment or procedure your doctor or other healthcare provider has suggested. You must have this information given to you in a language and way that you can easily understand. You should have access to an interpreter if you need one.

You also have a right to have someone else with you to provide support while you are talking about your options.

Why is informed consent needed?

You have a right under the law to make an informed choice about your health care. This is one of your rights under the Code of Health and Disability Consumers Rights.

Under the Code, health care may be provided to you only if you make an informed choice and give informed consent. You also have the right to say no to a proposed treatment or procedure, or change your mind about wanting to go ahead with it.

When is informed consent needed?

Your doctor or other healthcare provider must make sure that you have given informed consent for every proposed healthcare service.

When you are going to have a series of similar treatments, eg, dialysis or counselling, your healthcare provider will talk with you before starting the treatment to make sure you agree to it. The consent you give then covers the whole series of treatment.

If the agreed plan changes a lot, a new consent process is needed.

Examples of situations when informed consent is required include:

when you are having surgery (an operation) or other procedure

when you need to have an anaesthetic

if students or observers are going to be there for your treatment

if you take part in research

when any part of your body will be taken out during a procedure

if you will be getting blood or blood products

if you are enrolled in a screening programme

if your doctor wants to prescribe a medicine that has not been approved by Medsafe for use in New Zealand (called unapproved medicines)

if your doctor wants to prescribe a medicine for a different use than that approved of by Medsafe (also called off-label use).

What type of information should I get for informed consent?

Before giving your consent, your doctor or healthcare provider must fully and clearly explain to you:

how this treatment or procedure will help your health condition

what happens during the treatment or procedure

what other options there might be

what you can expect after the treatment or procedure

any risks that may be associated with the treatment or procedure.

You can also ask any questions you want about the treatment or procedure.

What are the different types of consent?

You will need to give either verbal consent or written consent.

Verbal consent means talking about and saying you agree to a particular treatment. This includes when your doctor prescribes an approved medicine for your condition.

Written consent means you need to fill out a form and sign it to show you agree to a particular treatment. This happens for more significant treatments, such as an operation.

How is informed consent gained for children and young people?

For children and young people under the age of 16, consent may be given by a parent, guardian or other person acting in the place of a parent. Depending on the child’s age, they will be involved as much as possible and information will be given to them in a way that they can understand.

A young person aged 16 years and over can consent to their treatment as if they were an adult.

How is informed consent gained for people who are incompetent?

In legal terms, people who cannot decide for themselves whether they want a treatment or not are called ‘incompetent’. This may be because of health conditions such as a brain injury or dementia.

Consent for people who are incompetent may be given by their welfare guardian or a lawyer who has an enduring power of attorney in respect of care and welfare for that person.

What if I didn’t get to give informed consent?

If you have any concerns about not getting a chance to talk about and make an informed decision about a treatment before it was given to you, you can make a complaint. Read more about the Code of Health and Disability Consumers Rights.