Anyone's child awaiting surgery at GOSH? Handhold please

[GOSHquestion]

Have heard all surgeries and outpatient appointments suspended again but not sure how accurate the info is

My 2 year old is due major surgery which we thought would be in Jan/Feb and really worried about it all

My friend works at GOSH and she told me that she was helping cancel appointments the other day. She told me all non-essential inpatient care and outpatient appointments to be cancelled for the foreseeable future. That’s all I know.

I guess it depends if you little ones op would be considered essential. Do you have any upcoming appointments if they haven’t been cancelled I guess that would be a good sign?

Thank you. The pre op hasn't been booked yet but we were expecting it in new year.

It's not essential as in life threatening, but if not done in the necessary window it will probably impact her much more for the rest of her life. What could be one surgery now could be loads if it isn't done soon enough

Worried sick

Anyone else in this position? I totally understand why it's necessary, but doesn't make it any easier

Sorry to read this OP, it's awful people may miss out on having necessary surgery in the optimum time frame. I can't offer any advice but I have a 2 year old myself and can't imagine the worry ypu are going through. I really hope her surgery goes ahead as planned and makes a good recovery

We managed to get my grandson's surgery refered from Oxford hospital to GOSH a couple of years ago. They are all amazing and go above and beyond expectations. Sending love hope and positive thoughts your way.xxx

A child I know is having bone marrow transplant as planned so I assume theirs is classed as essential rather than non-essential. I hope your son gets his surgery soon and makes a full recovery.

Thank you. Hopefully a little bit of a wait won't make too much difference. I agree they are brilliant there

Our surgeon was always very specific about the timing but I know there will be lots of other children whose surgery has become urgent by now too due to backlogs from summer

We try not to think about it too much but to us it's very scary surgery hanging over us, and we're frightened of something happening before the op is done although we've been told it's likely safe to wait even if it does carry risk or needing further intervention later

Last year I'd even looked at America as an option as there's a hospital there which may possibly take a case like her's free of treatment charge (though we'd pay travel) but I'm sure that's no longer an option either

Anyway she's very happy and healthy now so we're very thankful it's not considered essential and we aren't even more impacted

Not GOSH for me but Evelina. My 11 month old is currently booked to have a surgery in 10 days, and like you we have an optimum window for it to be done. I'm really hoping that the service isn't overwhelmed and we can go ahead as planned as we have started our isolation period ahead of admission.

Everything crossed for you @GoodShipSerenity . Evelina are also fantastic, we've been there too.

It's so hard having hospital trips for these little ones, I'm so grateful the treatment is there, but when diagnosed at beginning of 2019 it never occurred to me it might not be available when we needed it. Does make me appreciate everything that bit more but doesn't make it less of a worry!

I hope your little one's surgery and recovery go well and will be thinking of you!

Fingers crossed for you all. It must be stressful enough knowing your child is having surgery without also having the worry it will be cancelled.

The Evelina called me this week to offer us a surgery date in mid Jan for DS’s grommets and Adenectomy GoodShipSerenity
so the fact they are still booking non urgent routine stuff is a good sign. (We couldn’t take the appointment as he needs another hearing test first.)

@GOSHquestion thank you, we're lucky that it's nothing life threatening, but at the same time it needs to be done.

@Gunpowder thank you, that's really reassuring that non urgent operations are still being scheduled at Evelina

Had a call from Gosh yesterday booking my daughter in for an ultrasound scan for this coming Tuesday so it doesn't sound as if they are cancelling all appointments. I've just checked the my gosh app and it's still booked in. Fingers crossed for you.

God this makes me angry. Fucking Covid!!!!

@AngelsWithSilverWings that's really encouraging! Hope it goes well for your daughter

Will have to sit tight and hope the op can happen in an ok time frame. Not been given a date yet but were expecting pre op in next month or so. She has a routine check end of Feb which is still on myGOSH so I suppose if it goes ahead at least that's a chance to get in front of one of the team and check how things are progressing

Went to GOSH today for DD's outpatient appointment. All seemed very calm and well organised. Hope you get a date soon.

We were referred to GOSH by our local hospital on the 12th Dec and within 7 days DD was in having surgery. They've been absolutely fantastic.

Hi op I had major surgery at gosh many years ago. I've since had my own family. I hope that gives you some hope.

All of our outpatient appointments have been phone calls since last April apart from 1. Have you got access to my GOSH as you can send messages on that.

Why don’t you contact them to see what’s happening? Might give you reassurance.

Hi @GOSHquestion, the surgery for my DS that was planned for Monday at Evelina has been cancelled with no date to be rescheduled. I'm really hoping that it's not the same for you at GOSH.