Patients, doctors relieved that surgeries in California can resume again

SAN FRANCISCO - California's medical community received some good news from Gov. Newsom Wednesday: the resumption of elective surgery. 

It's a big relief to patients and doctors alike. 

Hospitals rely on the procedures for revenue.  

And patients need operations that have been delayed since the state's shelter-in-place order took effect. 

"We have delayed almost 2,000 surgeries in the past five weeks," said Dr. Philip Theodosopoulos, a UCSF neurosurgeon. "For me, that's brain tumors. And waiting a week is okay, waiting a month is questionable and waiting more than a month is not a good thing."

The UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center has 29 operating rooms. 

They have dropped from an average of 80 surgeries daily to 8, and those are life-threatening emergencies only. 

All other procedures are shelved, in some cases contributing to more symptoms, pain, and a worsening prognosis.   

"Diseases progress and unfortunately when COVID arrived, everything else didn't stop," said Theodosopoulos. 

Newsom, announcing the relaxation of surgery rules, said he is relieved hospitals have not been overwhelmed by an anticipated surge of COVID-19 patients.  

"It's a line that's beginning to straighten and flatten and show stability," said Newsom.   But he warned surgical restrictions could be reinstated if coronavirus rates balloon.  

And only essential surgeries for such conditions as cancer, heart disease and chronic illness are restored.    

"These are not plastic surgeries, not cosmetic procedures," said Newsom.

"These are important medical procedures that if not attended to could become crisis and ultimately burden the rest of the health care system."

Among those who have been left waiting is a Novato mother who needs brain surgery.  

"They said due to the coronavirus, they could not do non-urgent surgeries," said Sophia Osotio, who has an aneurysm the size of a grape behind her right eye. 

One month ago, Kaiser Hospital was preparing to clamp it off before it ruptured and became inoperable, and potentially life-threatening.  

"They give me all the pre-op instructions, we did lab work and scans then they suddenly decided they would just discharge me," said Osotio.  

At the time, hospitals were suspending surgeries to make room for COVID-19 cases.

Osotio was stunned and upset to be sent home.  

"I was scared because they were saying it could be held off because I'm not dying right then." 

Sheltering with her daughter Maliyah, 9, has been nerve-wracking at times. 

"The blood clot can rupture at any minute, so basically the fuse was lit and you don't know how long that fuse is," said Osotio. 

The challenge for hospitals now will be sorting through all the waiting patients, and prioritizing which go first. 

"It is difficult to rank people, when you have two hundred brain tumors they're all equally important to the people who have them in their heads," said  Theodosopoulos. 

He has been amazed how well patients have endured the uncertainty and warns most will have to forego a companion, or visitors, during their hospitalization, due to Covid precautions.   

"To undergo surgery is hard, to undergo it alone, with no one holding your hand before or after, that's really hard," said Theodosopoulos. 

As soon as she heard restrictions might be easing, Osotio called Kaiser. 

"We'll be doing the surgery this week, so I've lived to survive the wait," she said. 

She is relieved to finally get her craniotomy, but still rankled by the risk she had to take, waiting.   

"I understood why but I was offended that they felt my life was not worth saving, that my life could be put on hold," said Osotio.

"And when they canceled my surgery, they didn't give me a date, so I had no idea how long it was going to be." 

Debora Villalon is a reporter forKTVU.  Email Debora at debora.villalon@foxtv.com and follow her on Twitter@DeboraKTVU