Fever

[aerfirmie]

Okay. My 7yr old is 9 days post surgery. We are still in the hospital because they want to get the Coumadin level right before going home.

She is running a low grade fever once a day. They say it could be because her lungs are not 100% inflated yet. But I am still worried about it being some sort of infection. Her nostrils are still flaring as well and they say that could be because of the lungs too.

I am tired and want us to go home. Will I ever be free of these concerns??? I keep wondering what is going to crop up next. I am supposed to go back to work next week (her dad will keep her during the day) but I don't think I will be emotionally ready. I'm tired of being strong.

 

[sarahsunshine]

I can sympathize totally. It will be nice to be done and have her healthy - and you will get there. Right now, though, you need to be her advocate. Can you take turns with dad and get a night off at home? Skyler's mom and dad took turns at night (they are divorced), but honestly, it would have been the best thing to do anyway so everyone could have a break. Being the 3rd person (Step-mom) was also very helpful, and I was there just as much as either of them, spelling off for both. Do you have a friend who can be with her for a few hours during the day?

You say that the low grade fever is only once a day. When? is it in the morning? Skyler got a terrible pain all over his body 3-4 nights, but for some reason they only happened when mom was there (alternating nights). When dad was there they just didn't happen. Weird things can happen after being on heart-lung bypass.

I would keep an eye on the fever, but if it's only low grade, not worry too much. Skyler got an infection 2 weeks post op, and he was right out of it. His happened when he was at home and we had to go to emerg. I'd rather it had happened when in the hospital, they would have caught it sooner.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of taking a break. Even the strongest of us need one regularly.

 

[Bina]

It is very hard to have a child in hospital but it is good that they are getting her INR stable. My stay was 16 days for that reason (INR),
but I have to say that my INR has never been an issue in the past 6 years.

Regarding the low grade fever, I had that also for several days and I had trouble to use the incentive spirometer, but my oxygen
levels were ok and I could breathe clearly. For many of us the third week brings improvement.
Hang in there, best wishes

 

[sarahsunshine]

Absolutely right... Hey can you make the incentive spirometer a game? Is she still hooked up to the O2 monitor and the the thing that shows how well she is breathing? This worked better than the incentive spirometer for Skyler since you could count how many breaths he took in a line and how deep they were. Skyler had trouble for the first week getting his lungs inflated well, but once we made it a game and gave him a beeper that went off every hour, he progressed very rapidly.

 

[Lynlw]

Absolutely right... Hey can you make the incentive spirometer a game? Is she still hooked up to the O2 monitor and the the thing that shows how well she is breathing? This worked better than the incentive spirometer for Skyler since you could count how many breaths he took in a line and how deep they were. Skyler had trouble for the first week getting his lungs inflated well, but once we made it a game and gave him a beeper that went off every hour, he progressed very rapidly.

Another thing that can help kids do their breathing is bubbles, depending on the hospital, the nurses or childlife might even have bottles of them for that reason. I know how tough it can be to have your child in the hospital, it can really wipe you out even a couple days can be exhausting, especially if you're there 24/7, try to take care of yourself and eat, sleep etc as hard as I know that can be. It can be pretty common to lave a low grade fever off and on shortly after OHS, just keep an eye on it and hopefully since she is spending a little longer in the hospital for her INR, when she gets home she might be feeling pretty good already. One good things is kids are pretty amazing as far as recovering for surgery. I remember feeling like a wimp after one of Justn's because I was taking prescription pain meds for a tooth and he was running around with just tylenol a week after one of his OHS.

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Hey, sorry to hear you are still in hospital
After my 3rd OHS i was in 3 weeks because i kept spiking temps, sometimes they where low grade, other times they where very high, and still to this day they never found a reason for the temps, this was also after my mechanical aortic valve replacement, and as you no was born with truncus, could there be a link maybe?!?
I have since always had problems with my temperature, but it was at one point put down to problems when i was put on & taken off bypass, because they have to cool the body, they couldn't raise my temp, to the point of my being 0.5C from going into full hyperthermic shock, in ICU i was covered in heat blankets & heat pads, and took 3 days to raise my temp to normal level,
Anyway, really hope your both home soon,
Thinking of you both,
Love Sarah xxxx