OHS and the common cold

[Keith]

My surgery is scheduled for this coming Monday to replace my BAV and ascending aorta. My wife just came down with a cold and I'm afraid that I will catch it too. Does anyone know what kind of impact that might have on my surgery? I'm really ready to get this done and we've done a lot of personal schedule changes to prepare for this, so I'd really rather not put it off, but if a cold will introduce complications then I guess we may have to.

 

[dick0236]

Probably would not be a problem.....but run it past your surgeon.

 

[Lynlw]

I don't know that they would postpone a surgery because a family member has a cold or other illness, but If you start to have ANY of the symptons, most likely they will postpone. Justin's 4th OHS was postpond because he got sick the week before. It can cause alot of problems mainly with the lungs during recovery,getting off the vent, getting your lungs open and clear etc..not to mention the pain that goes along with coughing.

Hopefully you won't catch it, be sure to wash your hands and all the other good things you can do to try and keep germs from spreading

 

[Jkm7]

I don't think they'd postpone your surgery because your wife has a cold but they well may if you catch it.

Anything that interferes with your being able to breath is important. About a week before my second surgery, I started to feel twinges of a sore throat and for me, that usually means a cold is on the way. I gargled and drank tea etc and did everything I could to head off a cold and got lucky. One of the specific questions I was asked at my pre-surgery testing the day before was if I had a sore throat or any respitory condition. Don't lie to them. It's important they know.

Fingers crossed you avoid it. Best wishes.

 

[Just ASK]

I remember that I was tested one day prior to surgery specifically for staff infection, as there have been cases where your own exhalation during surgery over the open incision could actually cause severe infection after you are closed back up. I think your surgeon would be the best to answer your questions in this area.

 

[Keith]

Thanks for everyone's responses. It looks like I've caught the cold, but only mildly. I'm going to take Zicam and get a lot of rest this weekend and hope it's gone by Monday. If everything works out, I'll report back from the other side. If they reschedule, I'll let everyone know.

Thanks again for all the support!

 

[Lynlw]

It's probably late, but I would probably check with your doctors before you take anything this close to surgery. Justin got a very bad sunburn right before he was supposed to have one of his heart surgeries and we couldn't even give him anything like over the counter pain meds for the pain. He ended up having his surgery Bumped, which we didn't mind, since it would give his back time to heal a little and as soon as they called and postponed he took some advil.

 

[Keith]

Thanks everyone. I took Lyn's advice and laid off the Zicam after only taking a couple, but it never really developed into much of anything anyway. I was mostly asymptomatic when I went in Monday morning and it never really came up. I'm four days post-op now and doing pretty well.

 

[Jkm7]

Thanks for posting, Keith. I was thinking about you and wondered if you had your surgery.
VERY happy to hear you are over the mountain and doing well. Good news.

 

[Julian]

Thanks everyone. I took Lyn's advice and laid off the Zicam after only taking a couple, but it never really developed into much of anything anyway. I was mostly asymptomatic when I went in Monday morning and it never really came up. I'm four days post-op now and doing pretty well.

I was really worried I was catching a cold a week or two before surgery. I took Zicam a week before surgery. I don't know if I was catching a cold or just freaking out before the surgery. I'm glad your posting so soon after surgery, are you out of the hospital? I was in for 8 days because I needed a pacemaker. So happy your on the other side! Go baby! Go!

 

[Keith]

I'm still in the hospital, but I should go home tomorrow or the next day when they get my INR up.