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Original poster

AIBU to not want to self-isolate before minor operation

151 replies

Astressie · 19/06/2020 00:28

I was telephoned to day with a date for my minor op. Then told I had to self-isolate with DP for 2 weeks prior to procedure. This starts tomorrow!!! One day's notice. I do not have to go into work nor does DP but had no idea I had to do this when agreed to Op. Annoying thing is MIL has a more serious procedure at the same hospital and does not have to self-isolate. We both have to have a swab test 2 days before. We can't even go out to exercise!! Major upheaval with 1 day's notice. How do I give the dog his exercise? shopping thing etc etc I don't know if I can do this!!

OP posts:
Adirondack · 20/06/2020 11:47

@EnlightenedOwl if anyone is sounding hysterical on this thread, it’s you. There are many reasons people should be cautious, over 40,000 deaths for a start. It really doesn’t take much of the ‘enlightenment’ you claim to have to realise that anyone going into hospital even for a minor op is going to be more at risk of covid due to their immune system already being stretched healing their body from the op. Plus who would wish a virus which causes persistent coughing on anyone with an open wound or stitches? Get a grip.

EnlightenedOwl · 20/06/2020 12:34

Just tick the box and move on OP they will never know any different. It's just box ticking.

LadyOfTheImprovisedBath · 20/06/2020 13:01

Regarding the dog walking there are many more companies offering that service than there once were.

www.we-love-pets.co.uk/ - we've used local one of these people for pet sitting. Next door uses different dog walking service - so depending on where you are they may be a local service.

Lucked · 20/06/2020 13:07

If you get symptomatic a few days before surgery they have no time to isolate anyone else and the theatre slot is completely lost wasting so much money. The amount of surgery they can currently undertake is massively reduced so having theatres, surgeons, anaesthetist as well as all the nursing and support staff with nothing to do is very frustrating.

FlamingoAndJohn · 20/06/2020 13:10

@cologne4711

There are plenty of delivery slots now op

I wish people would stop saying this. I was talking to someone yesterday who could not even get a click and collect.

I’ve just looked at Morrison’s. I could get a slot for any time, any day from tomorrow onwards. So in some places it is true.
ButteryPuffin · 20/06/2020 13:14

@EnlightenedOwl has your hysteria shut down your reading skills? OP said in the OP she doesn't have to go into work and neither does her DP. You're ranting about a situation that doesn't apply here.

Stop telling the OP she is selfish - it's really not that easy to stay indoors for two weeks!
Bollocks. Two weeks is not a long time to put up with inconvenience for the benefit of your health. Try shielding for 12 weeks, especially if you live alone!

bumblingbovine49 · 20/06/2020 13:18

Please don't ignore the advice. You may be fine if you catch covid but if you bring it into a covid free hospital you could cause the death of a lot of people.

Redcherries · 20/06/2020 13:44

It’s not that easy to stay indoors for two weeks? Are you sure! Try doing 14 weeks with no shopping slots for the first five, two weeks with warning Is nowt.

God, can you imagine some poor bastard having to shield for 3 months then catching the virus off some lying sod in hospital who felt two weeks was too much. (Op, not you, I see you’ve organised for your isolation, hope the op goes well)

JacobReesMogadishu · 20/06/2020 13:48

I’m going to have to do this as well. I haven’t got a date yet for my rescheduled op (was meant to be in lockdown week) but I’ll do what needs to be done to get the op. It protects the staff, it protects others down the line. Just hope people before me abide to the rules.

Derbygerbil · 20/06/2020 15:48

I’m just hoping there any many selfish sociopaths like @EnlightenedOwl needing operations who are comfortable lying and going about their lives as though it were 2019, and bringing Covid in.

cologne4711 · 20/06/2020 16:26

I could get a slot for any time, any day from tomorrow onwards
So in some places it is true

Yes and in some places it is not, so can people please stop telling other MNers they are lying when they say they can't get deliveries or click and collect.

It’s not that easy to stay indoors for two weeks? Are you sure! Try doing 14 weeks with no shopping slots for the first five, two weeks with warning Is nowt

The OP had one day warning, but one day is one day and you can get two weeks' worth of shopping in a day. But that also depends on having a well stocked supermarket nearby.

Anyway my main problem with this thread was all the virtue signallers telling the OP she was being selfish and that shopping slots were easy to come by and she was going to kill a whole hospital if she went out and walked her dog.

DisobedientHamster · 20/06/2020 16:34

@cologne4711

I could get a slot for any time, any day from tomorrow onwards So in some places it is true

Yes and in some places it is not, so can people please stop telling other MNers they are lying when they say they can't get deliveries or click and collect.

It’s not that easy to stay indoors for two weeks? Are you sure! Try doing 14 weeks with no shopping slots for the first five, two weeks with warning Is nowt

The OP had one day warning, but one day is one day and you can get two weeks' worth of shopping in a day. But that also depends on having a well stocked supermarket nearby.

Anyway my main problem with this thread was all the virtue signallers telling the OP she was being selfish and that shopping slots were easy to come by and she was going to kill a whole hospital if she went out and walked her dog.

Anyway my main problem with this thread was all the virtue signallers telling the OP she was being selfish and that shopping slots were easy to come by and she was going to kill a whole hospital if she went out and walked her dog.

This. And all the competitive outdoers - 'Well, I'm shielding and I've had it harder and it's been shit'. That's not the OP's problem. It's advisory, too, no one is under house arrest.

DisobedientHamster · 20/06/2020 16:41

@Lemons1571

What if the OP complies and then the operation is cancelled on the day? Then the OP can’t afford to do another 2 weeks isolation for the next op date and her employer is not happy? So ultimately never gets to have her op. Who’s being selfish then?

No good deed goes unpunished comes to mind.

I tried pointing that out way back in the thread, this is why this policy isn't very workable unless you don't work, but no, it's impossible, operations are now never cancelled. Hmm

'selfish sociopath' 😂😂😂 God, yes, right up there with Hannibal Lecter.

EnlightenedOwl · 20/06/2020 18:07

People dont seem to understand how real life works. People will have to lie. Either that or be denied treatment

DisobedientHamster · 20/06/2020 18:10

@EnlightenedOwl

People dont seem to understand how real life works. People will have to lie. Either that or be denied treatment
On Planet MN the potential for catching covid by walking your dog in the open air is far more important than petty things like keeping your employment in an impending recession, paying your rent or mortgage or feeding yourself and your children.
sackcummings · 20/06/2020 19:34

@AnyFucker

Look. The NHS is trying very very hard to get their normal services up and running. There are massive logistical nightmares to try and manage.

Some areas of the hospital will be designated covid-free. This is to protect the patients and the staff that are potentially vulnerable. The best (admittedly inconvenient) way is to ensure 14 days of isolation and a negative test before proceeding.

If you are unwilling to do that, step aside and let one of the millions of people backlogged behind you take your place.

Well said.
EnlightenedOwl · 20/06/2020 20:06

No will just say I've done it and keep my place. Simple

DivisionBelles · 20/06/2020 20:23

These guidelines must vary by trust. I had a hysterectomy just over two weeks ago which was classed as urgent as I had a cancer diagnosis. I had a call on the Friday for the op the following Wednesday. No mention of self isolating, which I would have only been able to do for 5 days anyway. Had a Covid test the day before, which was negative and that was it. As far as I am aware, none of the other patients on my ward had had to self isolate either. I am in a part of the country with few cases, so that may have had something to do with it.

Although, having said all of that, had I needed to self isolate, I would have assumed there was good medical reason to do so and as a family we would have done. Surely that's the sensible and safe thing to do?

WearyandBleary · 20/06/2020 23:43

I had a recent op and did self isolate - as did DP - but we did both take late night walks (11pmish) on a few occasions.

These were in deserted streets where we touched nothing. I can’t see how that is a risk.

RealLifeHotWaterBottle · 20/06/2020 23:56

I've lost two colleagues, one of whom contracted covid in a hospital setting so fully understand the need for honesty and transparency here (wish other selfish fuckers would too)

Can you contact your local trust to discuss your concerns around the dog walking? It really is a bit odd you weren't made aware of this beforehand so hopefully they should be happy to discuss

JacobReesMogadishu · 21/06/2020 07:53

I think if you can walk the dog without seeing anyone or touching any gates it would be ok. Depends how rural you are. Dog could be walked very early in the morning?

FlamingoAndJohn · 21/06/2020 08:18

I have two friends both going in for routine operations.
Both of them have been asked to self isolate for two weeks.
One friend went and did a big shop the day before, enough to see them through two weeks, and are now completely self isolating.
The other friend decided it was too much to ask of his children and dogs so he is isolating from them. He is in one bedroom and using one bathroom while his wife and children are using the rest of the house. (Not sure how that works at meal times).

As I understand it you now have a much higher chance of picking it up in hospitals and care homes than in the street. Self isolating before going into hospital helps to keep that risk down.

iVampire · 21/06/2020 08:25

DivisionBelles surely with a cancer under active treatment you’d been advised to shield anyhow?

And an urgent cancer op (which my trust have diverted to the ‘clean’ theatres) isn’t quite the same as an elective routine procedure you can wait for.

I nearly needed an urgent operation when I broke my foot 2 weeks ago. They decided on the end they did not need to pin, but I would have been booked in to the ‘clean’ area because of the shielding. There could be considerable risk to me if the patient beforehand had lied about isolation and was infectious at time of procedure. Those theatres are kept that way for good reason

So I’m very glad to see that OP is sorting her admin and isolating properly

EnlightenedOwl · 21/06/2020 10:38

The fact some trusts say you must do this and some don't confirm it's a stupid on the hoof rule. Pure tickbox exercise. They won't know just say you've done it

iVampire · 21/06/2020 14:58

Doesn’t confirm anything if the sort

Different locations are cohorting patients to suit their facilities and layout and there is no one size that fits all

RTFT to understand why breaching infection control rules is a spectacularly shitty thing to do

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