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  • Anyone find themselves cancelling scheduled Procedures/Appointments?

    Posted by brittany-foster on March 16, 2020 at 3:38 pm

    This is something that I though about a lot after being in the hospital the last 3 days. Doctors at the hospital were telling me how the hospital really isn’t a good place to be right now. Last Friday I had to miss out on getting my port placed because my upper respiratory virus that I was fighting off for almost a week started to get worse. I began spitting up fluid each time I coughed and the shortness of breath just got worse. I DID get tested for COVID19 but it came back negative. I was positive for a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract though and was sent home.

    At home I have really been giving thought to how all of this is going to look for future appointments and procedures. So far I have canceled an outpatient ultrasound for my cysts near my removed ovary. I also am thinking about cancelling the port placement surgery (rescheduled for this Friday) out of fear of contracting this. One down side to that would be that I won’t have the proper nutrition or hydration to even have my body begin to fight something off that has the potential to be more severe.

    Did anyone have to make some calls and cancel appointments or procedures recently? What HAVE you gone to if you did and what were your main reasons for cancelling if you didn’t? Share here!

    brittany-foster replied 4 years ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • Colleen

    Member
    March 16, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    @brittany-foster I started posting this topic – which has been weighing heavily on my mind, then I realized you already did. I have a dentist appointment next week that so far I plan on keeping because I’m experiencing discomfort. I cracked a tooth several months ago and my dentist thinks it must need more repair or possibly a cap.

    Cullen doesn’t have any appointments this month but he has 2 very important ones in April and I haven’t canceled them yet. One is his first visit with his new transplant team (we are transitioning him to adult care at a hospital in WA instead of CA.) We really need to get that relationship established, especially because of the virus concerns. The other appointment is with his Nephrologist which has been rescheduled two times already. He is so behind on that appointment and right now, that’s his most important doctor as his kidney disease continues to progress. I really just don’t know what to do. So yeah, I feel for you and the decisions you have to make regarding appointments.

  • jo-ann-white

    Member
    March 17, 2020 at 5:06 pm

    I cancelled a dental cleaning appointment and an appointment with my internist but kept those with pulmonologists and lab work at hematologist to monitor a drug changeover. Really bad time to not be able to get the platelet medication that has kept me stable for 20 years!!! Oncology office does great screening tho and I videoconferenced with the doctor to cut down on exposure.They take temps and ask questions before you can even enter the waiting room and have automatic doors. So much better than lab quest and such.

  • brittany-foster

    Member
    March 17, 2020 at 5:52 pm

    @colleensteele It has been really hard to make these decisions. Luckily most of my providers are doing tele health visits and either can do appointments over the phone or by video chat if they have that set up too. But it is going to be hard especially with things that require any type of testing or procedure. My port placement already had to be cancelled last week because of my illness and they just called me today saying that I am too high risk with my medical history for them to even send me into a hospital right now even though it is not an elective procedure. It is really advised against going into hospitals. I had an upcoming GI test that was really important to get done that can’t be done now too. Definitely is going to be putting a damper on better treatment and without proper nutrition and hydration I am really concerned about my reserve if I continue to feel sick or get any worse.

  • brittany-foster

    Member
    March 17, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    Jo Ann, That is great that your providers do screening for patients like that before they even enter. I was just talking about modifications that offices will probably have to make. I suggested that my therapist make the modification of just texting clients when it is time for their appointment so we have the option to wait in the car instead of being in close quarters with anyone in the waiting room. I feel like it is just a bad idea to have any type of close contact to people we don’t know and don’t know who they have been around. The more we can control the better.

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