We have just felt the effects of Hurricane Sandy here in New York, and the after effects have been difficult to deal with. In the over 15 years of my private practice in Plastic Surgery, this was the first time I have had to cancel a day of surgery for any reason. Neither sickness, snow, or any other storm has prevented me from performing my procedures on their scheduled date- until now.

Despite losing power in my own home, and having to remove trees blocking my road, I was ready to go the morning of Tuesday, October 30th. I had prepared by moving any temperature sensitive medications to my home where we have a generator, made sure the back up power service was serviced and in 100% shape for the upcoming storm in the office, and took home all telephone numbers of patients for the week. Supplies and sterilizations were all completed on the Saturday before in case Monday was a problem.

I did not count on losing mass transit, and having patients being unable to get to my office. No subways, minimal buses means no surgery. Taxis and driving are not reliable after a storm, and for safety’s sake, we moved all patients to Thursday. With hospitals being taxed by the storm, and public services stretched thin, in the end what we do is elective, and the safest thing to do was to reschedule.

I hope that all of you are safe, and did well through the storm. Our office at Yager Esthetics is open and operational, and we look forward to seeing you soon.