This is the questionnaire you will be asked before surgery. YOU CAN GET CANCELED, EVEN IF YOU HAVE A NEGATIVE COVID TEST.
What the what?!?
When you put yourself at risk (party, road trip, airplane), you need to have 2-3 days after that risk before your test. Why? You could have gotten the virus, but it hasn’t grown enough in number to test positive yet. So you contracted Covid, but the test is negative because it just hasn’t been long enough yet for the numbers to be detectable. You still have it- and we don’t want you to have active new disease going into surgery.
What are the things to avoid two weeks before surgery? For this, I look to the questionnaire the surgery center uses.
- Have you traveled within or outside of the USA in the last 14 days?
- Have you been on a cruise ship in the last 14 days? (Not sure if this one is even still an option…)
- Have you been in close contact with anyone who has traveled domestically in the last 14 days?
- Have you been at events or gatherings with more than 5 people in the last 14 days?
- Have you been in contact with a person known to have COVID 19?
- Have you been asked to self quarantine?
- Do you have any of the following in the last 14 days: cough, shortness or breath, fever, runny nose, new loss of taste or smell, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, shaking, muscle pain, headache, sore throat.
If ANY of these are yes, then we look to your test (which is mandatory before surgery within 5 days, but ideally closer to your surgical date) to see if it is negative. If you went on a trip and got back on Sunday night, a test on Monday is NOT adequate. You need to wait a few days after the risky activity before your test. The corollary to this? DON”T DO THE STUFF ABOVE RIGHT BEFORE YOUR SURGERY.
Why do I care? Because it increases YOUR risk of an issue with surgery. Even if you don’t get super sick, active COVID can cause blood clots and oxygen levels to lower. Both of these are big issues for surgery and healing.
Read my blogs on coronavirus HERE.