Coronavirus: Patients, doctors wonder what counts as ‘elective’

What counts as an elective medical procedure?

The answer to that question can have a profound impact on patients across the Miami Valley, as the state has recommended all elective procedures be postponed or canceled during the Coronavirus outbreak. It’s a relatively minor inconvenience to delay a plastic surgery, or knee surgery, for example. The uncertainty has doctors and patients scrambling for information.

>> RELATED: Waynesville restaurant offering free toilet paper with orders

Amber Treadwell has breast cancer. “It feels helpless, I'm only 31, to be diagnosed with breast cancer, it's really unusual to be diagnosed at this age and I feel helpless because I have no control over it,” she told News Center 7’s Mike Campbell.

She found out she had ductal carcinoma in-situ on her birthday, February 19th. She’s scheduled for a mastectomy on March 30th. At least, she was scheduled for a mastectomy; she and her surgeon aren’t sure it can still happen.

Hospitals across the state, including Kettering Health Network and Premier Health are postponing elective surgeries, following the state’s advice. The goal is to preserve medical equipment, especially what’s known as PPE—personal protective equipment. That includes some masks, for example. However, neither the hospital nor the state have specifically laid out which surgeries count as elective, and which do not. Both Premier and Kettering hospitals are expected to stop elective surgeries at the end of business Wednesday.

>>RELATED: Local testing site at UD Arena starting today

When she talked to her surgeon’s office about whether her surgery would go forward, she says, “I was hoping they would say, ‘No, you’re on track, you have breast cancer.’ It’s a deadly, terminal disease.” Her doctor’s office told her they are waiting on a decision from the hospital. Treadwell understands the need to have equipment ready for potential coronavirus outbreak, but she has a tumor in her body. “To me, it’s only going to grow, it will get worse. It’ll just spread,” she says.

There is another complication for her. Because her treatment will involve long-term estrogen suppression, she has been advised that she cannot get pregnant for the next 5 to 10 years. “Because of that, we decided to make embryos.” The doctor handling that procedure called her, and told her that the usual anesthesia would not be available. She could go ahead with the procedure, but with a lighter version anesthesia. “I’d be in kind of like a twilight state,” she says. She hasn’t decided yet whether to delay or alter plans for the embryo procedure.

It was the phone call about the IVF procedure started her concern about the mastectomy. “That freaked me out,” she says, because of her planned breast surgery. It sparked her to immediately call her surgeon’s office. That was on Monday; as of Tuesday evening, it is still not clear. Meanwhile, she waits. “I’ve already waited a month already, and I don’t want to wait any longer,” she says.