Posted on 04/09/2020 6:16:38 AM PDT by Kaslin
Focusing only on coronavirus deaths and illnesses doesn’t tell the full story of what is happening in America. Other patients, waiting with no end in sight, deserve not to be forgotten.
I’m one of many Americans waiting in limbo for a surgery because of coronavirus. I have a hip problem that cannot be solved with physical therapy, and my quality of life is miserable while I wait for the hospital — cleared out to make way for potential COVID-19 patients — to reschedule my procedure.
Each step I take is a deep, painful grinding feeling that makes my leg ache, and on my doctor’s advice, I’ve moved to a wheelchair. It’s hard to sleep and to get comfortable sitting, and since my children are home from school because of this shutdown, they’ve noticed how little I’m able to play with them.
They won’t remember this as a time of family walks and of us sitting in the grass, watching clouds pass as we shelter in place. They will remember their mom, trying to hide her pain, avoiding activities, and struggling not to worsen the situation with a wrong move. I’m heartbroken and full of angst knowing that this could have been prevented with better preparations.
In early March, the American College of Surgeons recommended that elective procedures be rescheduled for after the outbreak. The rationale put forward was that postponing procedures would free hospital beds for waves of COVID-19 patients — whenever those waves would hit. It would prevent using up personal protective equipment, or the masks, gowns, and gloves surgical teams wear during procedures, saving those for staff to use in caring for coronavirus patients.
In many places, however, this wave still hasn’t hit. New York, New Jersey, California, and Michigan all have large numbers of cases, but many other states have managed to flatten their curves. Projections now show that even California will have sufficient beds to see it through its anticipated peak cases.
My state is one of those with empty hospitals cleared out for coronavirus patients who are not materializing in numbers anywhere close to even keeping hospital workers busy. We’ve listened to experts. We’re social distancing. Our world is on hold in a sincere effort to save lives. Yet these efforts are also hurting people’s lives, like mine.
But there’s a quiet cost behind these delays for all those whose procedures have been canceled. It’s people who have been living in pain waiting on joint replacements. Cataract surgeries are delayed, blurring vision. Also pushed off is surgical intervention for early-stage cancer, leaving patients waiting with the hope that these delays don’t allow their cancer to spread undetected.
These holding patterns affect more than just the patient. My family watches me living in pain daily, with no end in sight. Nobody has introduced a plan nor predicted a date when surgeries and scheduling will resume — even in places past the projected peak. This means no foreseeable end for patients’ poor quality of life, their reduced ability to parent, and their inability to participate fully in their work. It could also mean worse health for them as treatments for their needs are delayed.
All the fast policy rollouts designed to minimize COVID-19 infections have a real human cost, a cost lost in so many of the discussions about this. In the days and months to come, how many seemingly non-urgent conditions will progress and become irreversible because of care delays?
There has already been a rise in suicides, and in people attempting suicide or reaching out for crisis mental health care. Consigning people to live in pain, to cope with the knowledge that their cancer is not being quickly treated or that their reversible condition could become unfixable because of a delay in treatment — these are concrete human costs.
Planning for surgery, especially a major surgery, requires extensive preparation. Beyond just the procedure logistics, patients must consider recovery. For families with children at home, the planning become even more complicated. Finding care for the kids during surgery, plus the following inpatient time, can be complex.
People must also consider leaves of absence from work and school, as well as other life plans that are put on hold. Fellow patients I’ve talked to mentioned they took this semester off college or delayed accepting job offers, planning to have surgery and recover, only to be left adrift now.
It’s almost impossible to explain the disruption that this has caused for so many without looking like you don’t understand the pandemic or the risks to hospital workers. No one wants to be judged for sounding like he thinks his cataract surgery is more important than a global pandemic, but individual patients really have no control over supply-chain issues or policies.
Where are the tallies of patients like me in the COVID-19 crisis? I see none. Where are the websites dedicated to tracking the mental health tolls for people trying to cope with the disruptions, with the fears that things will not normalize, or at least not in time to help them?
We’re not publishing this data daily like we do infection rates, but it is real, and deserves to be counted. We are ignoring the suffering of so many Americans. It’s wrong to discount the toll these delays will take, for years to come, on Americans, including our friends, our families, and ourselves.
Coronavirus patients are not the only Americans with significant health needs. Focusing only on coronavirus deaths and illnesses doesn’t tell the full story of what is happening in America. Other patients, waiting with no end in sight, deserve not to be forgotten.
The author is a regular writer for The Federalist who requested anomymity to keep personal medical information private.
I would think that the hospital right now would about the last place you would want to be
I have two torn tendons on my rotator cuff. Surgery “might” take place in late June.
Bitching about it isn’t going to make it happen sooner.
“There is a large number of patients who have health emergencies and we’re concerned that those individuals may be avoiding medical care and trying to manage their symptoms at home when they’d be best served getting help at a hospital, and these conditions could worsen and be very harmful in the long term,” said Dr. Deborah Vinton, Emergency Medicine Director at the University of Virginia health system.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/concerns-as-non-coronavirus-emergency-room-visits-fall-across-dc-region
The surgical face masks have a higher priority than your hip. How hard is that to understand?
Yep, yep.. Eye surgeries, hip replacements, etc, all on hold. Which considering blood donations in many regions dropped to near zero is a pretty good thing in case something goes wrong.
Wait until you get the delays because everyone else’s rescheduling bumps you again, and then we’ll be on to COVID II...
It sounds flippant (and it is to a point.) But this is what happens when we leave these things unaccountable.
‘All electives are to be delayed.’ Until when? ‘Well, until the crisis has passed.’ So what, until the number of cases drop... ‘Are you one of those FluBros?’ What? No, just want to know what standard you’re using for delaying my surgery and what standard will be required for it to be rescheduled. ‘It’ll happen when it happens. Have a sucker.’ No thanks, already am one...
...I would think that the hospital right now would about the last place you would want to be
Two COVID-19 deaths here in last 48hrs
Not a healthy environment for
someone of advanced age and comorbid conditions
We can still get an abortion if you want to
I can personally attest to the misery this woman is going through. Had hip replacement surgery due to rheumatoid arthritis and it hurt like Hell. It was so bad waiting that after the surgery, i didn’t need pain pills because the relief of fixing my hips was enough.
Prayers for all patients(both non virus as well as virus)
Doing nothing has it’s causalities as well.
My son-in-law is a physical therapist. He has had to layoff all his employees since there is so little business.
I understand the cost is delaying elective surgery. However most people in the hospital right now have covid and we do not have adequate PPE. The last thing you need she. trying to recover from major surgery is covid or any other infection. In addition right now it is hard to move people to skilled rehab after hospitalization which an fair number of people need after major surgery. Right now it is actually in the patients best interest to delay major surgery
"This byline marks several different individuals, granted anonymity in cases where publishing an article on The Federalist would credibly threaten close personal relationships, their safety, or their jobs. We verify the identities of those who publish anonymously with The Federalist."
OR...they're just making this stuff up.
There’s also a story out there of a middle-aged woman who went ahead with her hip replacement in March, got the virus in rehab, and has passed away from it.
I and several contemporaries have had 'things' removed from our skin. We all marched Drum Corps together. LOT of time in the sun.
Luckily in our cases, none so far appear to be cancerous, but we have to monitor it.
I hate to say it, but if this guy dies of cancer while waiting for surgery, I wouldn't be surprised if it would be classified as a "COVID-19 death".
For how long? I need an MRI for my liver cancer and my dental appointment for a bridge is on hold plus I have osteoarthritis in most of my joints from years of construction. Oh,and I need a haircut. I’m starting to look like a caveman. Thanks China. You communist bastards.
A friend of mine is an anesthes... anaesteas.. anasthes... knocks people out for surgery, and his company has gone to one week on, one week off, because they have nothing to do.
There’s going to be a big backlog once they start doing elective surgeries again. I’m waiting for one.
Thanks for that link
an Mri should be fine now. I hope the rest can be done in the next few weeks. Like Insaid it’s really in your best interest to stay away fri. hospitals right now
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