Low Body Temp

I had TAH with the DaVinci. When I was in recovery my temperature was 93.4 and went down to 91. When I got to my room, it had gone up to 95. I had a blanket that forced warm air with 8 regular blankets on top of it. My temp finally went to 97.7, which is probably my norm, but why would it have dropped so low?

There are a number of factors that can drop your temperature such as cold air temperature in the OR (surgeons get hot with all layers they have on), cold IV fluids going into you, anesthesia, and so on. Did they pre-warm you before going into surgery with a hot air gown or some other device?

No, no pre-warming! But the stuff you said makes perfect sense. Thank you!

Interesting that they didn't pre-warm you. The latest studies show that if the patient is pre-warmed especially for lengthy operations, the core body temperatures are more stable and there are less chances of post-operative infections. How do I know this? They put me in a forced air gown that I just loved for a couple of hours prior to my surgery and of course, I had to look up why they did it. Anyhow, they got you stabilized so that is good. Happy healing now that you got through the surgery.