Charlie Callaghan appeared to be in good condition as he sat on his deck in the smokey summertime air of the little Rogue Valley. However, Callaghan, 72, suffers from myeloma, a plasma malignancy of the marrow.
COVID-Stricken Hospitals Postpone Cancer Treatment
It’s not a good moment to fall ill. As clinics load up with COVID-19 victims and other health diseases go neglected, several physicians are sending out this warning.
“It affects the immune system; it affects the bones,” he said. “I had a PET scan that described my bones as looking ‘kind of Swiss cheese-like.'”
“It turns out the airbase I was in was surrounded,” Callaghan said. “They sprayed all over.”
Callaghan is traveling roughly 4 hours to Oregon Health & Science University for a bone marrow aspiration, a significant operation that had needed him to remain in the clinic for a week & continue in some regions for 2 weeks for diagnostics. He heard back via his physician while driving.
“They’re like, ‘We were told this morning that we have to cancel the surgeries we had planned,'” he said.
Since the clinic became packed, Callaghan’s procedure was canceled. Several clinics and other places have been inundated by COVID sufferers, which is the tale they’re telling. Many people like him have experienced this fact due to the patients of COVID. Almost all hospitals in the area are occupied with the patients of virus infection, and hence not only cancer but also patients with other ailments are asked to postpone their treatment.
In the aftermath of the pandemic delta surge, OHSU spokesman Erik Robinson noted the institution, which is the government’s only public university healthcare center and treats people throughout the area, has had to postpone multiple surgeries and procedures. “Initially, surgical postponements harmed patients who required an overnight stay in the hospital, but more subsequently, all outpatient surgeries and procedures,” Robinson wrote.
As per Dr. Mujahid Rizvi, who runs the cancer department that is caring for Callaghan, the prolonged delay might have serious implications.
“I’ve seen patients get ready to have their open-heart surgery that day. I’ve seen patients have brain tumor with visual changes or someone with lung cancer, and their procedures are canceled that day. They have to come back another day,” said Dr. Kent Dauterman, a cardiologist, and co-director of the regional cardiac center in Medford, Oregon. “You always hope they come back.”
According to Dauterman, the health center had 28 people needing surgical intervention, 24 people requiring implantable cardiac, and 22 patients requiring lung procedures in late September. That there’s no queue throughout regular hours, he claims.
“I don’t want to be dramatic; it’s just there’s plenty of other things killing Oregonians before this,” Dauterman said.
“If you look at the number of hospital beds per capita, Oregon has 1.7 hospital beds per thousand population. That’s the lowest in the country,” Becky Hultberg, CEO of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, echoed this sentiment.
Avoiding optional operations was found to be a useful approach for freeing up rooms in intensive care for COVID sufferers. However, the research did not examine the repercussions for individuals who were forced to wait. The latest analysis focusing on reducing non-emergency operations examined how VA facilities fared throughout the first epidemic phase. The VA health care system is managed to limit optional procedures by 91 percent, according to the study.
Charlie Callaghan said his bone-marrow transplantation isn’t as critical as what certain individuals are experiencing exactly then.
“There are so many other people who are being affected,” he said. “People are dying waiting for a hospital bed. That just angers me. It’s hard to stay quiet now.”
