This is the right thing to do as much as I hate admitting it. We need to completely refocus our awful (US) health care system on this virus. Any nonessential (by which I mean essential to sustaining life) healthcare resources need to be redirected immediately.

But it does suck. Just like closing schools, shutting down sports, events etc. sucks. We can both admit that it sucks AND admit that we have to do it.

I just found out today that my consult that I made 9 months ago for next Wednesday has been cancelled and moved to May, because the surgeon isn’t seeing new patients. I’m hoping it doesn’t get pushed back again.

As a trans nurse, I can say this is the right thing to do, even though it will be difficult and painful for a lot of people, it is for the greater good.

Hello all, I report on LGBT+ issues for the Thomson Reuters Foundation and am researching this issue for a potential story. I hope you don't mind me commenting on the thread. I'm in touch with Mount Sinai and Facial Team, but I'd also like to hear from people who have had their affirming surgeries delayed/cancelled recently. If anyone does want to get in touch the best way is email: [ rachel.savage@thomsonreuters.com ](mailto: rachel.savage@thomsonreuters.com ). But you can also find me on Twitter and my article profile is here: https://news.trust.org/profile/?id=003D000002WZGYRIA5
I hope you're all doing ok and staying well & safe.
Take care, Rachel

You can add Bowers to that list for the month of March. 😭

Florida just announced resumption of elective surgeries statewide on May 4. So if you're seeing Dr. Mardirossian or other Florida docs in the nearish future you might be in luck.

My original date back in April was cancelled and it was the worst thing that could have happened to me - only a week beforehand. Now I'm scheduled for July 21st and I don't know what I would do if it was postponed yet again. I understand the need to focus on the pandemic but they are gambling with our mental health and there are those of us who are suicidal without the surgery.

Brassard and the GRS Montreal team are postponing procedures until further notice.

Hello, Lilia of FT here.

As our coordinators and the official published notice has advised, this was a really difficult decision to make but the first priority was to protect our patients, our staff and brace for uncertainties of the future. FT acted quickly, less than 24 hours after the emergency state in Spain was announced on Saturday, March 14th.

Staff are currently working under home quarantine until further notice (at least until the end of April) and the HC hospital (or any hospital for that matter) is unavailable at the moment. Subsequent updates are being posted on the same blog link "Covid Advisory" - all surgeries until the end of May are either rescheduled or pending a new date when the situation is clarified in patient's countries, where the pandemic is developing at different rates and border closures are indefinite right now.

In any case, please do let your coordinator know if you require further assistance, we remain here to help as best we can. Thanks for your understanding and patience. Check our social media for resources in the meantime about our activity, plans for the future and even talks to continue your research in FFS.

Thanks for your feedback.

What angers me isn't the cancellation due to needing to reserve space and supplies due to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. I fully understand and support that.

What angers me is that my GCS was originally scheduled for February 21, but was cancelled by the hospital less than 48 hours before it was scheduled to begin. So I had to reschedule it for April 10, and it was cancelled due to the pandemic emergency.

​

What I was told by my surgeon's office staff when the original date was cancelled was that the hospital suddenly decided that they were not going to allow that sort of surgery to be done in that hospital from that point on due to it being in conflict with their religious principals.

When I tried to complain to the group that the hospital was a member of, I got a letter saying that it was cancelled due to my primary insurance saying that they weren't going to cover it. My primary insurance is Medicare. But even if they did say that they weren't going to cover it, my secondary insurance, which is a major medical health insurance policy not just a Medicare supplemental, would pay for it as if they were primary. So on the face of it their story doesn't make sense.

I have tried to contact my surgeon's office to see if I could get a letter from them stating who it was from the hospital contacted them, and exactly what that person said. Unless I get this I don't know what steps, if any, I could take against the hospital

Does anyone know how long it should last? I just got an orchiectomy scheduled on Wednesday for 4/27. I was over the moon excited and now I'm having severe anxiety over this. I do fortunately live in a less populated area so that may help, but this is just so shitty. Self love and hope is getting replaced by fear. I'm done.

FacialTeam just cancelled my surgery on May 4th. Will be re-scheduled at a later date

Now Bowers has cancelled all of April.

Curious if anyone who has an upcoming ffs with Dr. DB has run into any issues? Mine is set for May, and I’m starting to get a bit anxious with the other cancellations happening

Fuck mine just got cancelled. I had FTM top surgery with Dr Grunwaldt at UPMC on May 7. Cancelled with no reschedule date in sight. Scheduler told me at least July if I can even get back in. I’ve never found it harder to get out of bed in the morning 😥

It really frustrates me to no end because for me it doesn’t feel elective.

Does anyone have this cited exposure graph?

Ugh. No. -_-.

Dr Pang at Mount Sinai is canceled for March and April 🥺 my tracheal shave was pushed back to June

I was supposed to get FFS June 2 with Dr. Ting, but even if that isn’t cancelled, I don’t know how I’m gonna get the letters I need for insurance or get surgical clearance from my PCP.

From Dr Garramone in Florida who does FTM top surgery, posted yesterday morning (3/23):

“Update: the State of Florida has banned all elective surgeries.

We will be rescheduling all patients who had surgery scheduled for the last week of March and the first week of April.

We will post updates as needed.”

My top surgery was scheduled for 4/6. In the grand scheme of things, I understand why it happened. I can simultaneously be sympathetic to the folks working to save lives right now, thankful it was cancelled for safety reasons, and frustrated that I now I have to wait longer (after my consult having been postponed twice).

You can add Dr. Rachel Bluebond-Langner to that list. Approximately a two-month delay.

I was due for op early May. Was private. Has just been cancelled due to the increased risk post op to the virus😥. Not sure if that means I have to wait till there’s a vaccine 😥

I'm having a hard time discerning the state of outpatient elective surgeries in Los Angeles county. Has anyone been able to resume a previously scheduled surgery like breast augmentation?

Has anyone been scheduled with Brassard for June? They updated their blog on the 15th they would be resuming surgeries but then nothing since then.

Do you have any insights into how surgeons in general go about rescheduling canceled surgeries? Do they resume right where they left off and shift everyone's date accordingly, or is everyone's date fixed and they simply squeeze the canceled surgeries into slots as they open up? Right now I'm scheduled in mid-September, and I'm wondering if I should be planning to have to change my arrangements in case I get bumped back.

Here were the news from South Korea:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews/comments/fi4eqp/south_korea_reports_more_recoveries_than/

-more recoveries than new cases

-a rate of fatalities of 0.7 percent, due to extensive testing, which may reveal a more accurate rate.

Due to a different strategy of containment and a different age structure, there are differences in other countries but hopefully things are better in a few months.

I have mine scheduled for early May, and this uncertainty over it is making me die inside.

For dr Kathy Rumer I was told all inpatient surgeries are pushed back until further notice.

There is an individual from reuters looking towards our community in terms of whether we are receiving the sources that we need during Covad-19 and she could use some good answers. I did my best.

I should point out that this will depend on the location. If the area where you're having your surgery done has hospitals reaching capacity, they'll cancel elective surgeries. If not, the surgeries might not be canceled. So having surgery done during this time IS possible, but you might want to make plans for the potential that they'll be postponed last minute.

For the record, I had surgery done by Dr Ley in Scottsdale, Arizona, on July 7. While talking to the nurses, they told me that was my surgery just a couple of days later, it would have been canceled or delayed.

For those of you who are making travel plans around surgery, make sure you find out any refund policies the airline or hotel have.

Also, because of covid, my surgery was slightly different. First, obviously, I had to do a covid test a few days before surgery and isolate between that test and the surgery itself. Which meant getting a hotel with a mini fridge and microwave and eating that food for a few days pre-op. Not a big problem, but I was kinda going stir crazy. Second difference is, hospital policies don't always let you have visitors while inpatient anymore, so there's a good chance you'll be all alone while you recover. There will be nurses there to help you out so you should be good on that front, but you may get lonely.