Fever?

I heard it is fairly common to have a low grade fever for awhile after the surgery. I had one while in the hospital and they watched me closely. It did go down before they released me, but it came back today. My surgery was Monday. I left a message for the nurse, and am waiting to hear back. Do you think it's normal or something to be really concerned about?

BTW My temp is 100.6 and I definitely have chills to go with it.

I do think it's common. Our bodies have had a major shock and doing their best to heal from the op leads to our immune system being low for a while. My TAH was 10 days ago, I also had temp in hosp & then started with sickness at day 7. My doctor found a water infection so now taking antibiotics and feeling much better. I think it's always best to get these things checked out but try not to worry about them (we need all our energy for speedy healing ), easier said than done I know.
Hope you get sorted out soon and wishing you a speedy recovery, ((hugs))

It's probably pretty normal. Fever generally indicates infection, so it's good that you have a call in to the doc. Hopefully it will just require some antibiotics.

If it gets worse tonight, you should go to emergency though.

I'd call your surgeon's office and clearly explain your symptoms, when they began & if anything else has changed (like your level of pain or discharge). They should see you within 24 hrs or might tell you to go to the hospital for tests. Many post-op pain meds include Tylenol or Motrin and those can mask a high fever, for me the fast heart rate (130-150) was a sure sign that I was trying to get a high fever and I needed to go in for tests.

When I started having chills and symptoms of illness, I was 11 days post op & had been feeling great 24 hrs earlier so I wasn't sure if it was a post-op infection or not. Later I realized I also had new pains, a tiny bit of new bleeding and a very fast heart rate but the temperature was kept lower by the Tylenol I was taking. My OB had me go into the ER because they could do tests there more quickly- blood counts, urinalysis and if needed, a CAT scan to check for signs of pelvic inflammation or abscess. That got me the treatment that I needed & it was all pretty quick, starting the antibiotics fast was key. Mine was a post-op vaginal cuff infection. I also learned that simple UTIs should NOT come with fever, unless it's turned into a more serious kidney infection and that needs immediate attention. Hot flashes or anesthesia side effects shouldn't push your temp up above 38 C or 100.4 F and that's the magic number most docs will tell you is a fever that needs treatment.

I was told to call if mine went above 100.4. Mine never went about about 99.8. It could just be your body healing especially if it is later in the evening. Our temps go up as the day goes on. They may want to make sure you don't have an infection if it doesn't go down though. Best wishes to you.

Well as it turned out I have a serious blood infection and spent the last several days back in the hospital. I am now finally home and seem to be doing okay other feeling emotionally down. I have periodic moments of crying and thinking I need to go on some kind of antidepressant after this.
How long should I expect to be in this amount of pain? When did everyone else notice they weren't hurting as much?

Same stuff happened to me with my post-op infection- hospitalization, a few days of harsh IV antibiotics followed by 2 weeks of oral antibiotics. The surgeon also prescribed anti-nausea meds & painkillers if needed. I was thinking "oh, I won't need those other drugs" until I got home & the nausea & pain got the better of me... worse than immediately post-op but I felt a lot better once I took the meds! I was sleeping off and on throughout the day for a week, it's very disorienting & made me weepy.

Getting an infection REALLY wiped me out. I consider coming home from that second hospitalization like going through another procedure, it's a whole new recovery & the clock starts over on giving yourself 4-6 weeks to be on your feet. I've had weird side effects ever since the infection and it's hard to figure out what's going on. One MD who consulted with me suggested some nutritional supplements (esp Vit D, Vit C & zinc w/my multivit) & a homeopathic remedy to settle my stomach along with probiotics (the antibiotics I was taking left me prone to yeast, nausea, weird tastes, diarrhea) and recommended good lean protein, low sugar balanced diet according to what I can stomach. He is the only doctor who really looked at me from head to toe to figure out why I was so jittery, had increasing pain and extreme fatigue. He promises me that I'll get through this (and would consider adding new drug treatments if I'm still symptomatic in another month) but right now the best advice I'm getting is to wait this out, rest & heal. Infections happen, it's just a lot for your body to recover from and seems 4-6 weeks of TLC is the first choice of treatment.

Glad you're home from the hospital, hope you have a LOT of help to give you that TLC. More people seem to be offering to help me since I got sick instead of helping because I had surgery, funny how that gets more sympathy around my house.

Take all the help you can get & rest up, I know it's frustrating to be a patient patient.