Has anyone had their THR surgery cancelled at the last minute? This happened to me yesterday, after waiting 7 months for an operation date, rearranging work meetings, my daughter and partner sorting out time off work, doing all the pre-surgery requirements and even getting as far as being booked in at the hospital at 7.15am, having all my checks done and being told I was second on the list. The staff then were told the surgeon would not be in as his wife had gone into labour. Of course I completely understand and accept this is a very good reason to cancel, but my whole emotional and mental attitude to the op has now changed, at the moment I just dont want to know, I feel flat and very scared of going through the whole build up again, if anyone else has been through this I would be extremely grateful to hear how you coped.
Have they given you a new date for the op? My hip op did happen although I was worried stiff it would be cancelled. However I had to have a different op three weeks later. I turned up at 7.30am, then sat around all day, nil by mouth so I was starving. I was then told that they could operate by 10pm that evening or I could come in the following day. I was then given a date of two days later and actually had the op, thank goodness.
I will probably be on my own here but here goes. I do not think canceling because his wife went into labour is the right thing to do, she could be in labour for a long time and as you say you were all set for your op, it was very important to you. People have a responsibility to carry out important work when booked in and he would have been finished in the afternoon.
We don’t really know the circumstances. His wife may have had problems and it was suggested he should be there with her. As he knew she was about to have a baby if things were normal he could have arranged to have time off from his schedule. As he did not perhaps things were not going that smoothly.
Really ptolemy, I suppose I could have made my point better, but they should have had cover. People work themselves up for an operation and to have it cancelled the day before is really bad, especially as he knew the wife was due. If mine had been cancelled I would not have gone through with it as I was scared anyway, I would have thought it was not meant to be.
I am not sure cover actually works like that. If a new surgeon were available, which is unlikely judging by the waiting lists, they would want to meet the patient and find out about them. Look at xrays and do homework on the patient, by that time it would be a lot better for the patient to go to their original surgeon. I would not be very happy going to a new surgeon, I spent a lot of time finding out about a surgeon with a good reputation who had a good track record on lots of hip ops. I don’t think I would let any old surgeon just step in. Even in A&E they need to check on a lot of things before operating.