Mrs Edwards' health is in dire straits, but an appointment, obtained after great difficulty, next Monday has given her some hope of recovery.

It's either that or suicide, she said.

"I've asked for a bullet. The pain is maddening, it drives you mentally crazy," the Flowerdale resident said.

Mrs Edwards has two bulging discs in her spine that press on her sciatic nerve.

She cannot sit for very long, can stand for even less time and can hardly walk.

Her pain is always unbearable.

"Today's not a good day, but I don't get good days any more. I haven't had one for six months," she said.

Mrs Edwards' condition appeared in March, and what has followed, she says, has been lengthy confusion between hospitals and health professionals, and a string of apologies.

Mrs Edwards doesn't blame the hospital staff with whom she has been in contact. She believes they are working in a broken system.

In March, Mrs Edwards was told she would have to wait for three months before she could see a neurosurgeon through the public health system.

"I thought `oh, my God', I was going to die by then," she said.

But a surgeon was found for Mrs Edwards in Hobart in July.

"The first thing he said to me was, `how long have you been walking like that?' I walk sideways, you see, like a crab."

Mrs Edwards said an MRI scan was needed - but the closest appointment she could get was in six months. After some lobbying by her surgeon, an appointment at the Launceston General Hospital in August was found, and an alternate slot for September was found at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

"I was so elated, I was crying," Mrs Edwards said. She gave away her alternate slot at Hobart.

But on arrival in Launceston, things went awry and the scan didn't happen. Mrs Edwards said staff members were not told she was claustrophobic and unable to lie on her back.

"I was devastated, I really wanted to do this MRI."

Mrs Edwards is grateful for the apologies she has received from hospital workers, but still desperate for her scan so she can start treatment.

She managed to keep her September appointment in Hobart.

Mrs Edwards said an appointment on September 1 has since been made in Launceston, and she has been assured that she could be sedated for the scan.

"I'm too scared to ring Hobart and cancel that appointment, in case that happens again," she said.