Surgery after Covid?

May 11, 2023 6:05 AM

So I just got a positive Covid test, despite the many precautions I had been taking. I have surgery scheduled in 3 weeks. Is there any chance I can still do it?

I know this is a question best posed to my surgical team and I will check in with them when I can, but they're not open yet, I just got my positive test, and my anxiety is through the roof. Looking online has not been helpful given the morass of shifting information over the last three years.

I am fully vaccinated and will be contacting my PCP this morning to ask about Paxlovid or other anti-virals. Overall I am healthy. I'm in my late 40s.

The surgery is one I have been on a wait list for a year to get, and if I have to postpone it, I would imagine it will be another year at least. There are a lot of psychological and emotional factors tied up in this surgery so I'm hoping it will still be possible to have it. It will require general anesthesia.

As best I can tell from what I think is the most recent guidance online, it seems like surgery is still possible so long as I'm symptom-free for at least ten days. Of course, I'm also seeing info saying that you should wait seven weeks or more - but again, I can't tell how old or relied-upon that info is at this point. I am so freaked out right now.

Has anybody had recent experience with a situation like this?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

You need to breathe and stop trying to internet research yourself to the point of being freaked out.

This is a question for your surgical team only, not the internet, because their internal protocols may be more or less conservative than things you will find on the internet. You will get a clear answer from them when they're open.
posted by openhearted at 6:20 AM on May 11, 2023 [47 favorites]

This is anecdata offered only to calm you down.

I am in my early 50s. I had oral surgery on May 1st. The preliminary screening only asked me about Covid exposure or symptoms for two weeks prior.

I urge you to stop Googling this and reach out to your surgical team when they open.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:27 AM on May 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

Echoing openhearted--you need to take a breath and do your best to minimize the anxiety.

It is definitely possible to get surgery! However, the details matter and your care team is going to be the best group possible to discuss this with.

Wishing you luck and health!
posted by lucy.jakobs at 6:27 AM on May 11, 2023

Talk to your team! My partner had to have orthopedic surgery last year and they told him if he was positive for COVID they would still do the surgery, he'd just get bumped to the last surgery of the day. And that's if he was actively positive, not (likely for you) some days out from the last positive test. I'm sure that varies by surgical team, hospital, and type of surgery, but just wanted to share an example of how surgical teams are handling COVID these days.
posted by misskaz at 6:41 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Make sure you take the illness seriously. Rest as much as possible. Get your fluids. Eat good food. Talk to the team and try to manage your anxiety. Sending you healing vibes that you are able to get well soon.
posted by amanda at 6:43 AM on May 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

For better or for worse, there doesn't appear to be much overarching care about undergoing surgery even with active COVID except for contagion - and even that concern is variable depending on whether your medical professionals even believe it's real, though the hospital may have blanket policies that would maybe cancel you for testing positive on the day.

It is not impossible but very unlikely you will still be testing positive in 3 weeks.

It would actually be good if your care team was concerned that you be in the best possible shape for successful surgery and recovery so that they would push if they thought you'd have a poorer outcome, but that is also not a guarantee. I would encourage you to be prepared to make that call yourself if you do not feel you are well enough when the time comes, even though you are incredibly anxious about this surgery being moved for any reason, because semi-successful or unsuccessful surgery is not going to bring you the satisfaction you are looking for and you will be right back where you are now awaiting the next one, if that's even an option anymore.

Let your care team know the situation, follow whatever instructions they give you, get the Paxlovid, and then put Dr Google down and turn your entire attention to rest and recovery. This is the closest thing to control you have over any of this: not making it worse. If you don't have a pulse oximeter I would recommend getting one to keep an eye on your sats so you can get intervention the instant something changes for the worst. (Also, based on a bunch of my coworkers' experience in the past couple of weeks, ask your Paxlovid-prescriber about what you should do if you start to present with eye symptoms, because apparently you want to start treating that immediately to prevent potential permanent damage.)

I hope everything works out okay in the end. Rest as hard as you can.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:59 AM on May 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm dropping this not because it's necessarily factually useful for you - as others have said, your surgical team are the people to give you correct information - but because I know sometimes encouraging anecdata can help in an anxiety storm.

I recently had Covid and was testing positive for just under 2 weeks. I had an outpatient hospital appointment 10 days after my first positive test - by that point I was pretty much asymptomatic again but still testing positive.

Official advice in the UK is now pretty much nonexistent - a kind of handwavy "If you have a fever you might want to stay at home for 5 days" but I found this article by Imperial College useful, and it said they think you're very unlikely to be infectious at 10 days, even if still testing positive.

There was nothing in the hospital literature suggesting I should stay away from my appointment, so I went. Mask-wearing is still required in hospital settings where I am. I mentioned my Covid situation to the doctor - he was 100% unbothered, chatted generally about the contemporary Covid experience, asked me to pull down my mask so he could see my tongue. The nurse actually praised me for coming in because she said a lot of people cancelled their appointments unnecessarily in my shoes and it was better to come in and be seen.

All of that's just anecdata, and people reading will no doubt have their own thoughts on the attitudes of the doc/nurse. And YMMV. But based on that, 3 weeks out would be totally fine - but your team will tell you. Take care of yourself in the meantime.
posted by penguin pie at 7:47 AM on May 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

As a data point, someone I know was bumped from a surgery list last month because they had an active cough due to a cold (covid negative, with mild asthma). Their surgery was reproductive in nature so it was non-emergent, but it did have a bit of a timeline attached for maximizing their future fertility. They had been on the list for 2 years and it was bumped to the point where they might need to wait another year.

Uncomplicated breathing is of course really important for general anaesthetic. So while I don't know what the Covid rules are for your surgery (probably the rules are somewhat flexible based on the medical necessity of the procedure and relative risk of postponing surgery), I would imagine that if you're having respiratory symptoms, you may get bumped.

You probably already know about being asked to put on the cancellation list, but I'll mention it just in case. From what I've seen, when cancellation spots open, you'll probably have 1-4 days' notice before the surgery.

It also seems to help if you set a reminder to call the medical team every month or so, and ask about the cancellation list. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:04 AM on May 11, 2023

My brain is to foggy to answer well, but i just had brain surgery after having covid a month before. They literally did not care other than ensuring my lungs sounded clean on the stethoscope. I even went in to surgery the day of suffering from seasonal allergies and again, no one appeared to care. I suspect the anesthesiologist may have cared and could have cancelled if he wanted but didnt. I tell you this all not to provide medical advice but that I understand the anxiety a million times over and let you know its not a for sure thing until it is. Just call your surgeon’s office. They will be the ones making decisions most likely. Theres not much else you can do other than work on recovering as quick as possible by taking care of yourself. Good luck!!
posted by cgg at 8:17 AM on May 11, 2023

If you have to push back your surgery, someone else can get bumped ahead, and you should be able to use their spot. Being vaxxed means you should have a mild case, but if it's severe, it's probably not a great idea to have surgery, sorry. Covid still sucks.
posted by theora55 at 10:12 AM on May 11, 2023

What you should focus on for the next 5 days is lying in bed, eating and sleeping as much as possible. Now is the time you need to stop being anxious and make sure you do whatever you can to make this a mild case. Don't start being active once you feel better. Once you are negative, talk to the doctor, and stay in bed for another 5 days.
posted by melamakarona at 12:17 PM on May 11, 2023

I had a major surgery in the few weeks and the hospital system didn't even test me for covid, as long as I had no symptoms( if I had symptoms they would have tested ).Reach out, let them know. Three weeks is far enough out I don't think it will be a problem provided you have mild symptoms and feel recovered.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:51 PM on May 11, 2023

I'm late, but to add another reassurance, I recently had a friend who gave birth via C-section while covid positive. (Unfortunately, the baby could not be made aware of the test results and could not be persuaded to wait). Everything was fine.

As an earlier post said, they got moved to the end of the day, as the team will go ahead and use full PPE precautions and sterilise the room afterwards according to covid protocol. Surgery is already an environment designed to avoid disease transmission.
posted by other barry at 11:13 PM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]