I wouldn't know where to begin to set up video chatting. And boy, do I get you on that clutter thing. Between putting on enough weight to qualify for a zip code and being exhausted from doing nothing, this covid is going to get me one way or the other.

What is a thoracic surgeon going to be looking for?

I've completed 2 video doctor visits via phone app during the pandemic. Super easy and the standard of care was excellent. Good luck with your medical journey.

Lars, different clinics/offices seem to use different programs for their video visits. I've used Vsee for a virtual appointment with my endocrinologist in Sept and used my android phone. It worked out OK. I could see and speak to her clearly. I had to practice a bit with a way to hold my phone so that it wasn't in my hand for the appointment and roughly found a way to put it on a small rolled pillow on my desk at a good height (more eye level).

The next day the all in one with attached camera I'd bought came, and I had a service transfer all my data, set it up for me. I used the camera feature for a Zoom virtual appt with my cardiologist last week. Easier than the phone. My desk faces the window looking out in my office, so the camera shows the rest of the room behind me. I had to do a bit of 'picking up', make sure lighting was great. My stationary bike was visible to him - not necessarily a bad thing. DH's desk at the far end of the room but it's neater than mine even on a bad day. That's if he was looking past me and examining my room and somehow I doubt that he was.

I was happy enough not to be making the 2-hr drive to be seeing either one, using their elevators or being seated in a waiting area in a multistory building where waiting outside until I was called wouldn't work (works with my dentist). These were both well-patient annual check-ins. Perfectly acceptable for times that needed only a conversation. Bloodwork was done ahead of time. Of course no one felt my thyroid, listened to my heart, checked my blood oxygen level, took blood pressure or weighed me, but I'm not ill and worked out OK for 'covid' appts.

May I ask without being too intrusive what your objections to your phone are?

I only did one and it was complicated. Luckily I called in ahead and was talked through it. I use my Ipad for Zoom and never had trouble. Not sure what this was but again it was not user-friendly in my opinion.

If you are more comfortable going in for a visit, then schedule it now.

My video visit was with my endocrinologist. Basically just to touch base and needed her to prescribe my sonogram.

When that was done, all communication went through the patient portal.

Good to hear that this is at the "watch it" stage and not severe at this time.

Contact the office to find out what they use as mortz posted. Probably the camera on your laptop will work fine.

The good news is that the doctor did not set you up with an immediate appointment. The bad news is that the surgeon will probably be giving you the information as you already knew that sooner or later you would need surgery. However I suspect and hope that the surgeon will give you some options that will delay that including weight loss and more exercise.

So sorry but our bodies just wear out with time.

DH had a phone appt. with our doctor back in April. Easy peasy. She sent him the paperwork to have his blood work done.

I had one too in May, again, very easy. I have had one issue that I was sure was going to mean a visit, but we were able to make a course of action.

But, I did have to see her before my knee surgery. Unfortunately I failed my stress test, which cancelled the surgery. but then I saw the heart doc and he said my heart was fine, just an anomaly. So I'm shooting to get the knee done next year, I hope!

I've had several video visits, my wife has had several. Our docs are at Stanford it has its own system embedded in the online communication/appointment/medical records system.

The Stanford system couldn't be easier and and I'm sure UCLA has something similar. If not maybe the same package,

I wouldn't describe any of the general video call software programs other than quite easy to use and I've used most of them in the past 6 months.

I've had a couple of video doctor appointments. No big deal. They send you a link, you click on it, and voila, you're chatting with your doctor. As far as not wanting any clutter in the background, who cares? Your doctor is focusing on you, not looking around at your decor. You take up most of the visual of the video anyway so there's not much to see other than you.

Thoracic or Vascular surgeon?

For aorta, would see a vascular surgeon. (Perhaps, they found something different on the CT?)

http://surgery.ucla.edu/division-vascular-surgery

I did a video conf with dr using their software and it was very easy and worked very well. But I did use the phone.

I would overcome any anxieties you have about a video call with the surgeon because it seems to me January would not be an ideal Covid time for an office visit. I expect a serious shutdown after the Holidays.

Helped doing telehealth during early COVID. Not a big deal. Most patients used phone held in hand. Below simulated picture of patient using phone, and what we saw (face pixelated for patient privacy).

I was wondering about thoracic vs vascular as well, as thoracic seems to have more to do with the esophagus whereas vascular would have more to do with the aorta. I'll have to call the number my doctor gave me and find out, but it was for the thoracic department.

I think any video that can be done on the phone could also be done on my tablet, and I would prefer to use that.

The thoracic cavity is the medical term for the chest cavity. A thoracic surgeon does surgeries in the chest cavity area. I'm sure mdln can fill in the blanks I've left.

Follow your doc's recommendation and you can ask questions of the doc you speak to.

The video medical visits I've had worked equally well on phones and tablets. After all, whether in the Apple world or the Android world, a tablet is nothing more than a large phone but without the telephony circuitry and software. A phone using a wifi signal is the same as a tablet doing the same.

I have had several Tele visits. Extremely easy. They call, text a link, you click on the link and it will ask permission to use the camera and audio on your device. Agree. You will suddenly be able to see the Dr. I sat on my sofa with a solid wall behind me. But nothing was visible other than my head. It was very successful and simple. I didn't have to add any apps to my phone. Just click on the link. Better to do it sooner than later! Best of luck.

By the way if you want to see the Dr larger than your phone screen you can always cast your phone to your tv. They of course still see you in the phone screen. You can also use ear buds to hear better if you like.

The ones I've done work differently with the group practice our docs are at.

There's a patient portal where the doctor notes from appointments (whether in person or virtual) are visible, where test results are shown, immunization record, list of prescriptions, prior message communications (sent and received), a list of assigned docs, and other stuff.

Another section is Appointments. A few minutes before the appointment time, we log into the patient portal, go to the Appointment section, and then click on a link that says something like "Start Video appointment". The doctor appears at the appointed time. All takes place within the patient portal.

I'm sure there are many different ones, all do the same thing ultimately.

I had a video call with a friend a few states away today. Zoom was unhappy and didn't work, Google Meet was unhappy because the images were present but no audio in either direction. Finally we reverted to Skype and it was fine. All are the same, the controls are slightly different, the outcome is the same. As I suspect should be true with video software used for medical appointments

I'm also in the Stanford's system. Very easy. DH did his visit on a laptop which he set up himself and he is a bit of a luddite with some of modern tech. I had two visits I did on my cell phone.

Haven’t read the responses, just wanted to say my husband and I had to do several appointments by televideo. Most of the clinics now have a program they use where you click a link to get into their “waiting room” once you log in, the doctor joins. They provide you with really good instructions and honestly, It’s super user friendly. If you decide to give it a try, you’ll be glad you did.

I totally get wanting to have a clean back drop, free from clutter and so on. It’s too bad they don’t use Zoom, then you can put any back drop you want and not have to worry about it.

I hope all goes well with the visit Lars.

I've used several different apps for video conferencing and they all are pretty easy to pickup. I'd use your laptop with the camera. Most meeting apps allow you to choose a background scene to replace the true background if you want.

I've only had two doctor appointments since March. One was my annual wellness checkup and the other was my six month visit with the Rheumatologist. I went to both in person since I had to also have bloodwork done. They haven't figured out a way to do bloodwork virtually yet.

Lars I’m having weekly physio sessions via video at the moment. I was emailed a link and just had to fill in my name, DOB and telephone number at a prearranged time to gain access.

Admittedly I have an iPad, so happily I could position it anywhere in the house away from any clutter clusters.

If I use my laptop or tablet, I will take it outdoors and have my garden as a backdrop. We've done some yard work recently, and so it is in fairly good shape, but I need to do more. Last week-end I went on top of the pergola/gazebo (ours is sort of a hybrid, since I put a roof on a pergola) to remove some of the creeping fig vine leaves, which require frequent attention. I could not stand on the roof, however, and the work plus the fear caused my blood pressure to go up. I have a good at-home BP machine, and so I can provide BP info to the doctor, if necessary.

I have some nice orchids and bromeliads blooming in my back yard right now, as well as my favorite hibiscus.

My doctor's office called today to set up a time for my annual wellness check up, it is going to be by video. I don't have a clue how that will go, it will work though.

Sue

Lars, best of luck.

Honestly, your concern about what's in the background is...a bit silly. No offense intended. Once you have a video call with your doctor you'll understand. I've had a couple, and just sat in a recliner. One of my cats sat on the top of the recliner next to my head. What is seen in the video is just you - you don't need to do a room makeover or practice in the garden. Your doctor doesn't care what's in the background. The background won't be seen anyway. It's your head and shoulders, and then a foot around.

My doctor may not care what is in my background, and you may not care, but I do care. What I do not care about is whether anyone thinks it is silly.

If I can improve my environment, then that makes me happier and makes me feel better.

Lars, we used my ipad and it worked perfectly fine. It’s a good option.

I wish you well. I have refused the video calls, and just do plain old phone calls. My last one with the endocrinologist was a little rocky, since the first one they called me to do the preliminaries, and the second one they were expecting me to call them, so I waited over half an hour past my appointment before they finally called me. They were positive my first one was done the same way, but I firmly told them NO, it had not, that They had called Me. I will see how it goes with them again in December. My regular doctor has called me, not me call her, and has worked well. Rhuemetologist and neurologist both have been in person visits. Use the method that makes you comfortable.

Lars, I'm not saying anything about improving your environment for your happiness and to feel better. What I'm meaning is that trying to establish the background scenery for a 30 min call with your doctor is so...unnecessary. But if that is what makes you happy.

Hope your appointment goes well. All good news!

As an aside, my H is a physician. They never did telemedicine appointments until this year and had to get set up in just a couple of days due to potential shut downs. His practice is independent and they are somewhat technologically deficient but were able to get up and running quickly. There were some hiccups as many of his patients are cognitive issues or had technology limitations. However, he liked the process overall.

I believe they could not use zoom, facetime, etc as they are not HIPAA compliant.

Wishing you good health.

"I believe they could not use zoom, facetime, etc as they are not HIPAA compliant."

I had surgery at UCLA in late 2017. I live in northern California. The initial consultation was done over Zoom, as was the two-week post-op checkup. The surgeon's office sent me a link for Zoom, and said it was HIPAA complaint. Just now after reading what @reff31 wrote, I did a quick Google search.

Lindsey_CA - I'll have to check. It is certainly quite possible that I got things mixed up. If it is I'm not sure why they they took the route they did, using all new software. It may have been a billing issue as I think the coding is different

My brother does not use Zoom for video conferences at work (He works for Sony and has been working from home since March), but I'm not sure what he uses instead. Sony requires strict security, as you may remember when they were hacked by North Koreans after a movie they released that was not flattering to Kim Jong Un. That hack shut down their entire computer system for weeks, causing a lot of havoc.

I've been preoccupied with election anxiety and have not gotten around to calling for an appointment but will try to do that next week.

I appreciate all the information I've gotten here! I think it should be fairly easy for me to do a video appointment, and I think that is something I would like to try, especially considering the traffic between here and Westwood.

By now you have probably looked at the report from your procedure. Hopefully it has calmed any concerns that you have. Of course sometimes wanting to wait is best.

I really did not receive a report that I can read - only a referral, which expires March 20, 2021, for a visit with the thoracic surgeon.

If I do have to have surgery, I can have Kevin take me to the hospital and pick me up, or I can use the ride service that my insurance provides. I've already had the CT scan and blood tests. I don't want to pay for a hotel when I live only 8.9 miles from UCLA. With good traffic, it takes less than 15 minutes to get there. If I had to go two days, then I could drive myself on one day and be driven on the second day.

I would consider the hotel if I lived further away, however. With bad traffic, the drive is usually on 30 minutes, but at peak rush hour, it can be 45 minutes. There is always the opportunity to spend some time in Westwood or West L.A. to wait for traffic to die down.

Lars I am pretty certain that by the time you have any procedure those blood tests will need to be repeated a couple of times. Good Luck either way.

They have already indicated that I will need more blood tests, but at least for that, I can go to Manhattan Beach, or maybe Marina Del Rey, which is even closer to me.

Most meeting apps allow you to choose a background scene to replace the true background if you want. -- Only works if you have a non-busy background. And you wear something non-conflicting with what you do have. Living in a log home, this is difficult.

I may as well just clean up my physical background. Easier.

I received a written copy of the referral for the thoracic surgeon a couple of weeks ago, but when I tried to get an appointment last week, the surgeon told me that I had the wrong office. Therefore I contacted my doctor, and he gave me a new referral for a vascular surgeon, which is what I thought I should have had in the first place.

We're going to Palm Springs/Cathedral City on Thanksgiving Day and will not return to L.A. for a month, and so I will see if I can set up a video meeting with a vascular surgeon while I am there.

I checked the lab results at the UCLA portal, and it said that my aorta was 4.1 cm, which is barely above the 4 cm threshold, and so I am not terribly worried. It will certainly be convenient if I can get a video appointment - otherwise, it will have to wait until January.

I went to see my dermatologist last week, and he removed a tiny spot on my right wrist that I was concerned about. He wasn't sure what is was, but he cut it out anyway, and my wrist is still sore five days later. His office called me today to give me lab results on this, but they left a voice mail and were unavailable when I called them back. They are supposed to call me back this afternoon. I also had some white spots on my arm that I thought were just dead skin, but the doctor told me that they were pre-cancerous, and he froze them off. I think I might have some on my legs as well, but I will have him check those when I go back in four months.

I'm glad you're being proactive on your health care and definitely glad you followed up initially when everyone here strongly suggested that you do so. We care!!!!

mm or cm?

Thanks for the correction - it is cm instead of mm, and I edited my post above. I had to check on the portal to make sure.

At this point, I am more concerned with issues from the dermatologist, but I will stay on top of both. I don't like having to visit doctors during this pandemic, but I think their offices are keeping safe.

Keeping you in my thoughts