Anaesthetic after Covid

Yesterday I had my pre op for a general anaesthetic for a failed hysteroscopy. However before I even got to the hospital I got a phonecall . I was actually in a shop wasting some time as I was too early for the hospital . Anyway to cut a long story short I was offered an app for the operation on friday which I agreed as its urgent , then the bombshell once she found out I had , had covid at christmas I was told I would have to wait 7 weeks post covid. Well I just burst into tears. The young lass from appointments who had rung me was lovely she was saying please dont cry. I reitterated how this was urgent as I had already had 2 failed biopsies so she said she would ring consultant .

I dropped my basket just went out to my car in floods of tears and she rang me 5 mins later . They have agreed to do it but only under epidural . I am so distraught I havent slept . When I got to pre op she told me my blood pressure was high I explained what had happened an hour before and that im in quite a bit of pain tbh I would have been supprised if it hadn't been high . Im so stressed absolutley dreading friday now .

I came away from the hospital in shock I wonder how many other people have had this bombshell dropped on them last minute .I am now dreading my results as if I need another operation I am going to be stuck . I am already into my 8th week of this on an urgent 2 week pathway. Still no biopsie , still no diagnosis. I feel like everything is out of control and I have no control over anything:sad:

  • Oh my goodness! That's awful! No wonder you are so distraught!!  I am so sorry this is happening to you. Glad that they have agreed to do it under epidural.

     

    Did they say why you can't have an anesthetic? What has Covid got to do with it?xx

  • thankyou ljd62 they didnt say but I googled it when I got home and its riskier apparently which I didn't know and nobody had bothered to mention previously.

    The problem I have is the epidural is risky for me anyway and theres a high chance it wont work as I have 3 problems with my spine totally unrelated to what im going through right now . So if it doesnt work what will they do then . I am getting totally petrified now im sat here shaking typing this .

    Had I not had covid the general would have probably been a safer option for me , wouldnt mind but I didnt even have a cold with covid I had a high temp for a week and the weirdest headache bit like I remember a lingering hangover from my youthful days .

    oh and I lost my taste and smell on day 8 which I found bizarre as the temp and headache had gone, its not returned yet just the odd whiff and a slight taste every now and then

  • Well I will be honest I am feeling like the unluckiest person on the planet right now . I went to the hospital Friday and the hysteroscopy failed yet again . I ended up having a spinal rather than an epidural and it failed .I have a connective tissue disorder which can cause issues with regional anaestetics and unfortunatley for me it did so I am back to square one . They could not get into my womb again , they have found an endocervical polyp blocking the way . When they stopped the operation she said they had to stop as what they needed to do they couldnt do with me not being anaesatised properly. I was so distraught by this point I wont lie it was horrific and not something I will get over any time soon and not something I ever want to go through ever again . She did say they had managed to get a tiny fragment of tissue for biopsy but wasnt sure if it was enough. So I guess I will wait and see .

    I now have to wait another 4 weeks to have it done under general anaesthetic so that will be 7 weeks post covid . I ended up having to stay overnight as the spinal finally kicked in about 2 hours after I had come back from theatre which was early evening and seeing like i waddle like a lame duck at the best of times obviously it wasnt safe for me to go home . The hospital staff were lovely im not complaing about them but i feel so frustrated i feel like im stuck in a revolving door that i can't get off . so im still none the wiser , my mental health is rock bottom , due to my connective tissue disorder I feel like ive been kicked head to foot by a donkey which is gonna take a while to rectify , I have no diagnosis and another 4 weeks for this blooming hysteroscopy and then however long it is taking for biopsies to get back .Hopefully something will come back on this tiny fragment but im not going to build up my hopes .

    So cheers covid thanks for building up my natural immunity I have antiobdies wohoo but I think Your a fill in the blank for screwing everything else up in the process

  • I've only just found this post, so my answer is way too late - but might be of interest to someone, somewhere. 

    I have been in a similar position to the original questioner: I needed an urgent hysteroscopy during the early months of the pandemic. I assume she has had her procedure by now, and hope the results weren't too bad, but I can understand her frustration, because for some reason, hospital staff don't explain the situation.  In my case, a worried friend did: 

    What has covid got to do with anything?  According to my friend (who is a consultant anaesthetist), having covid plus a general anaesthetic raises your chance of dying from complications of the GA from  roughly 1 / 100,000 to  something closer to 1 / 3.  (I also found this information on the internet at the time, but googled it just before replying here, and can't see it anywhere now.  Perhaps the 1 in 3 statistic has changed?  But a hugely increased risk remains, nevertheless.)  The increased risk continues for some time after recovering from covid, too - and my friend says that at his hospital they would still cancel an elective procedure for at least 8 weeks after the patient recovered from covid.  

    I've had the same procedure a few times now.  Although "guidelines" have recently been changed and covid is everywhere - my hospital has stopped advising patients to isolate beforehand, and has stopped routinely testing patients for covid before they have a GA.  My friend said he recommends that I isolate anyway, and test myself immediately before admission.