Fever after surgery

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clumsydancer

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
70
Location
St. Louis, Mo
How long does it take to get rid of the fever after surgery? Anyone have experiences? I am home a few days and running a fever controlled by Tylenol, but its annoying. I have a clear discharge from the wound, but saw the nurse practitioner and she said its not infected.

Any advise?
 
clumsydancer said:
How long does it take to get rid of the fever after surgery? Anyone have experiences? I am home a few days and running a fever controlled by Tylenol, but its annoying. I have a clear discharge from the wound, but saw the nurse practitioner and she said its not infected.

Any advise?
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How the heck did the nurse determine it wasn't infected? Tricorder? The nurses who were changing my dressings kept saying my wound wasn't infected either. We all know that was worth dip. Without a cultured swab opinions are like bum holes, everyone has one.

And as ski girl said ... have you called yet?
 
You can have a fever after this surgery without having an infection. I had it after my first surgery and several others on here have had it too. There is also something called Dressler's syndrome that you can get that can also cause you to get a fever. If you had the fever in the hospital, and they checked it out there and were comfortable sending you home with it, I would just keep an eye on it and make sure it isn't spiking higher than it was in the hospital. If it's something new that your surgeon personally isn't aware of, then I would definitely make the call to him and let him know.
 
kfay said:
You can have a fever after this surgery without having an infection. I had it after my first surgery and several others on here have had it too. There is also something called Dressler's syndrome that you can get that can also cause you to get a fever. If you had the fever in the hospital, and they checked it out there and were comfortable sending you home with it, I would just keep an eye on it and make sure it isn't spiking higher than it was in the hospital. If it's something new that your surgeon personally isn't aware of, then I would definitely make the call to him and let him know.
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I, too ended up with a fever 8 days post-op (and had other symptoms such as shortness of breath and high heart rate) . Cultures and blood tests were done to rule out any infection. When no infection was found, the docs. concluded it was post-pericardiotomy inflammatory syndrome (or Dressler's).

I agree with everyone that you should contact your surgeon's office or cardiologist to get everything ruled everything out

All the best to you and do keep us posted.
 
Contacted and went to surgeon's. The feel all is ok, my discharge is clear and my wound is not painful and I have no other issues. They said having a temp for several days is normal, but, if it becomes out of control, over 101 and Tylenol has no impact, it is for sure infected and call back. So, I'm pain free, slightly elevated temp, with normal clear discharge.

Home nurse tomorrow and ill discuss it again with her too. Thanks for all the feedback.
 
clumsydancer said:
Thanks all! I like being a member of the forum and looking forward to becoming the veteran you guys are.
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If you don't mind sharing information, where did you have your surgery and who was your surgeon? I had my aortic valve replaced almost 8 years ago at Missouri Baptist Hospital with Dr. Nicholas Kouchoukos doing the surgery. We live in Cape Girardeau so I had a long, uncomfortable ride home upon discharge.
But to address your original question . . . . I also had drainage, and some bleeding from the incision, a few days post-op but never ran a fever.
 
Hi Duffy,

I had mine at DePaul medical center with Dr. Theodoro. I'm not sure about the fever, but I am free of symptoms of any infection thus far. They don't seem concerned about the fever so much. My drainage is normal too apparently. Did you do a mechanical?

I can only imagine your ride home, that would be painful for sure.

Nate
 
Hi Jkm,

Drainage is still there, but still clear so should be ok. I'm kinda tired of rebandaging though. I think it is a little less today than yesterday.

Thank you for checking on me :)

Nate
 
clumsydancer said:
Hi Duffy,

I had mine at DePaul medical center with Dr. Theodoro. I'm not sure about the fever, but I am free of symptoms of any infection thus far. They don't seem concerned about the fever so much. My drainage is normal too apparently. Did you do a mechanical?

I can only imagine your ride home, that would be painful for sure.

Nate
Click to expand...

No mechanical; I've been sporting a bovine for almost 8 years.
 
I also had fevers after my first surgery. I was told atelectasis can cause fevers. Are you using your incentive spirometer? Are your lungs fully inflated?
 
Hi Guyswell,

I think my fever is gone. And, I believe my lungs are fully inflated again and I do use the spirometer. The fevers were horrible, not high, just annoying.

Nate
 
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