Are you in a hot spot
@BeckyF? Here in southern Oregon, which isn’t a hot spot yet, but cases are increasing, I’ve been the one canceling or postponing. My primary care physician preferred to do Telehealth with me to go over labs (which I cautiously did at our small local hospital) so I wouldn’t have to come in. I canceled my annual check-in with my pulmonologist (for now) because I don’t have any issues going on. They offered Telehealth and I told them maybe later. Tomorrow I see my pain specialist in person, where they have a really good system set up, but I had postponed that twice since March. He will be only the second doctor I’ve seen since March in person. My husband rescheduled an in-person appointment with a specialist as a Telehealth (or phone) appointment to go over imaging.
Point being, is it possible to do Telehealth with your pulmonologist...unless, of course, he needs to listen to your lungs? It seems they could offer the opportunity to at least consult with him and talk things over to head problems off. I really hope you can get what you need. But if you’re in AZ or FL or TX I can see why they don’t want you to come in person for now. Hang in there.
ETA: An interesting fact I learned from the person I spoke with when I canceled my appointment with my pulmonologist...he said that the pandemic has pushed Telehealth to the forefront about five years before it was expected to be used routinely. He doesn’t think it will ever go back to in-person appointments for everyone, as before.
The only downside I see is that some doctors (looking at you my pain specialist) are unable to stay on schedule with their appointments, so it will be difficult to have a set time for a phone call. I have a feeling that may be why they didn’t automatically offer one as my PCP did. Maybe your pulmonologist is one of those time-challenged docs?