Former EastEnders favourite Pam St Clement has revealed she has suffered the “year from hell” after a leg injury caused her to postpone vital knee surgery.
Pam played show legend Pat Butcher from 1986 to 2012, when she was killed off after a short battle with cancer.
Appearing on Loose Women on Friday (August 23), Pam told the panel of Andrea McLean, Coleen Nolan, Brenda Edwards and Saira Khan, what a difficult time she’s been having.
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“How are you? You’ve had a tricky year…” Andrea asked.
“Oh I’ve had the year from hell,” Pam responded.
“I did my usual trip to Australia – I go there for a couple of months every year – and idiot that I am, I planned my knee replacement for after I came back.
“I was out and it was the tail end of a typhoon and I was messing about with a seven-year-old and I fell and cut my leg open.
“It was disgusting, it really was, and would you believe it the one part of my fat body that hasn’t got any flesh on it is my shin bone and it was straight across my shin bone.”
She then went on to explain that meant her knee surgery couldn’t go ahead.
“I came home, saw the surgeon, and he said: ‘I can’t do anything because of cross infection’, although it’s not the same leg, it’s deadly dangerous cross infection.”
After waiting to see how it healed, Pam revealed she’s had to postpone the surgery three more times and it’s meant she’s missed out on work opportunities.
“It’s been absolute hell,” she said.
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The star also explained that she uses CBD oil to help control the pain of her knee.
“I deal with it by using allopathic medicine and alternative medicine, for my knee, I’ve had three steroid jabs so far, which have been very helpful.
“I’ve been relying on [CBD oil] quite a bit.
“I couldn’t use it in Australia, so I had to rely on painkillers, but over here and with my own CBD, I’ve been able to gradually ease off the painkillers.”
Pam filmed a documentary in 2017, Gone to Pot: American Road Trip, where she and four other celebs travelled across America to discover how cannabis is used medicinally and how the UK could legalise it.
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