March 2022 • DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL | 3
not want to have
to go to the ER with
my daughter for
fear that we might
contract COVID-19,
but Dr. Lanoue arranged
for a direct
admission to the
floor.
We drove from
Dr. Wheeler’s office
in Preston Center
to Medical City
Children’s Hospital
and after parking
entered the building
for temperature
checks and
screening. I told
my daughter that if she was asked if she had
a fever to say “NO.” Somehow, we made it
through (my daughter’s slightly elevated temperature
passed) so that we could register.
Other than the nurse at the entrance and
the receptionist at registration, we were the
only people in the entire lobby and registration
area. We were roomed at about 11:00
am. Dr. Lanoue examined my daughter, the IV
was started painlessly, and the blood testing
and abdominal sonogram (not a CT scan) to
evaluate her appendix were promptly conducted
right in the room. Dr. Lanoue returned
to our room at 2:30 pm to confirm the diagnosis
of appendicitis and to obtain informed
consent. At the end of his spiel, he stated that
he may encounter an unexpected finding and
of course that bad things can happen during
surgery (paraphrase) – something that I have
said thousands of times to my patients – and
therefore didn’t know how long the procedure
would take. The surgery was to occur
immediately but was delayed a few minutes
because a urine pregnancy test had not been
conducted…rules are rules!
I accompanied my daughter on her
stretcher to the pre-op holding area at 3:00
pm to meet Dr. Bruce Fitzgerald (anesthesia),
and she was off to surgery at 3:15 pm. It was
during this time that the anxiety set in, and
I was worrying and praying that the surgery
would go well, as even a routine laparoscopic
appendectomy can have complications. I
received a text from the OR at 3:55 pm stating
that they were finishing the procedure, and
that Dr. Lanoue would come speak with me
soon. I knew at that time that all had gone
well with the surgery, and he met with me a
short time later to confirm it.
I had been waiting in my daughter’s hospital
room, as the waiting room was closed, but
was then allowed to visit the post-op holding
room with her and accompany her back to
our room, which was of course thoughtful
– and my daughter was the only patient in
the holding area at that time. As soon as she
returned to her room, she was smiling, and
then FaceTiming her friends telling them that
she had just had surgery!
The COVID-19 visitation policies were difficult
for my wife, who wasn’t allowed to visit
our daughter, because there was only 1 visitor
per 24 hours. However, we were permitted to
meet in the lobby so that she could drop off
some items for me, as
I hadn’t packed a bag,
as well as a pillow,
blanket, and decorations
for the room.
My daughter and I
spent the night and
were discharged the
following morning,
which was Easter
morning. The nurses
were awesome and
brought my daughter
an Easter bunny,
which was of course
very thoughtful. After
discharge, we made
a stop at my office to
borrow a wheelchair,
and then went home, where my daughter was
greeted with a banner signed by her siblings
and friends. And then, of course, the Easter
egg hunt that normally occurs at dawn happened
after she came home.
The whole experience was stressful and
even more so due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
but we came to Medical City Children’s Hospital,
were evaluated, operated on, recovered,
and discharged the following morning in less
than 24 hours.
Although I have courtesy privileges at Medical
City, I had never been to their children’s
building. As a physician, I am cognizant of how
the system works and can state unequivocally
that the care we received. From the time
I called Dr. Wheeler, to navigating a hospital
admission process during the novel pandemic,
meeting Dr. Lanoue for the evaluation and
surgery, to the time we left, our experience
was superb. I am grateful for that.
And, this all happened during the height
of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made this
routine care extraordinary.
I would like to pivot this story to address our
2-year anniversary of the pandemic, statistics
of Dallas County, and how we as physicians
were affected. We’ve all heard scores of
statistics and predictive models. At the
time that this article was written, DHHS
released their latest Covid-19 Summary
dated February 11, 2022, showing 557,475
COVID-19 cases, or ~21% of the Dallas
County population (certainly the true
percentage is at least twice that number);
33,909 hospitalizations, which is
~6.1% of cases; and 5,856 deaths, which
is ~1.1% of cases and ~17.3% of hospitalizations.
I would like to comment about
these statistics:
If we assume that 50% of the cases
were asymptomatic and NOT reported
(regardless of whether they had a
positive home test), then the number
of actual cases would be twice the officially
reported number, which would be
~42% of our population. Maybe the true
incidence is higher, but I suspect that