GCS surgery draws closer: I'm now "top of the waiting list"

[Tills]

Thanks so much @Lori Dee That's really encouraging and very much on my wavelength

xx

[Tills]

Sorry for various posts on this but another curious thing. They mentioned covid yesterday, saying that there is still a lot of it about at the moment and that if I feel ill in the fortnight prior to surgery I need to test myself for covid. The reason? Apart from feeling like rubbish, covid can heighten the risk of blood clots forming through surgery and they would defer the operation.

I confess that I'd almost forgotten about covid. But I reckon I'm going to buy a few face masks for use on public transport over the next few weeks. It will feel very strange to be doing that again but I'd rather play it safe for the surgery.

[Sarah B ✅]

Hi Tills

Who is Tills?  (just joking)
Yes, In answer to your covid question.  In a large international study of surgical patients, 2.2% of patients with perioperative COVID-19 developed a postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE).  In other words, approximately 97.8% did not develop a VTE [1].

Put simply, about 2 out of every 100 patients with perioperative COVID-19 developed a VTE while about 98 out of every 100 did not.

It is important to distinguish perioperative COVID-19 from having had COVID-19 sometime in the past.  Among patients classified as having a recent SARS-CoV-2 infection, the reported VTE rate was 1.6%, meaning approximately 98.4% did not develop a VTE [1].  Patients with a previous infection had an even lower reported VTE rate of 1.0%, meaning approximately 99% did not develop a VTE [1].

Although the study found that COVID-19 was associated with an increased risk of VTE following surgery, the absolute risk remained relatively low and the overwhelming majority of patients with perioperative, recent or previous COVID-19 did not develop a postoperative VTE.
Your suggestion of wearing a mask sounds like a good idea and stay in side?  Anyway, its good to hear that your surgery day is coming soon.

Trust me its a wonderful day that day.

Best Wishes Always
Sarah B
Global Moderator
[1] COVIDSurg Collaborative & GlobalSurg Collaborative. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 infection and venous thromboembolism after surgery: An international prospective cohort study. Anaesthesia, 77(1), 28–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.15563 🔗
@Tills