Local hospitals are having to cancel surgeries because of a shortage of blood, due in part to this week’s weather hysteria:
The Texas Medical Center and other hospitals around town were hit hard by the winter weather in Houston and across Texas. It not only kept regular donors away, but also forced organizers to cancel blood drives and blocked shipments expected from other cities.
They’re actually having to ration blood at the worlds biggest cancer center. They have been canceling cancer surgeries this week with no end in sight.
“We’ve had to cancel between 10 and 15 cases over the last three days because of the shortage,” said Dr. Garrett Walsh, head of surgical services at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The blood supply there is so low, they think surgeries Friday and all of next week will also be canceled. And that’s a real hardship for patients.
“They come from all areas of the U.S.; they come to Houston. They get geared to the time of surgery and then when you tell them the operation is canceled because of a blood shortage, there’s obviously a tremendous amount of anxiety surrounding that,” said Dr. Walsh.
Surgeries are often timed between radiation and chemotherapy treatment programs. And canceling is hard, too, because many surgeries involve huge medical teams because they’re so complex.
Thankfully, the Houston area is recovering from the “ice storm.” Hopefully, blood donation levels will recover too.
