Let's talk about how COVID & following guidelines, or the lack thereof, affects others. This will be a thread, FYI.

I'm a NP in a very busy GI Clinic. I manage basic GI things but also livers. Have a patient in whom liver cancer was suspected. Sent for a liver biopsy... (1)

... He came to clinic this wk for those biopsy results. He had them early November. We didn't have them. A suspected liver cancer patient who can't get his results at his follow up.

But wait. There's more...

I have another liver patient on whom a biopsy was ordered .... (2)

The biopsy was in the middle of October. Today is 11/20. Still no pathology results.

But wait. There's still more...

Patient who had colonoscopy mid-October w/ polyp removal. Calling our office daily to find out pathology results. Guess what I don't have? Results.... (3)

... And it goes on and on. So we call Path Lab and find out they can't keep pathologists in the lab due to COVID-19. Exposure to the virus (family, friend), actually having the virus, or symptoms akin.

There are people wanting to know if their growth is malignant.... (4)

... or not &we cannot keep pathologists in house to read the results.

So that's my story for the day. Because folks don't want to or can't follow recommended guidelines, I have patients waiting longer than normal to see if they have cancer or not. Lovely. #Covid_19 #WearAMask