surgery in two days.......long story..sorry!

[amela321]

Hello,

I am supposed to have surgery in two days to remove several nodes for recurrent papillary thyroid cancer.  This past Saturday, I developed what I thought was an ear infection.  I went to the doctor, found it was indeed an ear infection and was prescribed Floxil ear drops and a Z-pack.  I had told the dr. that I was having surgery in less than a week, so that's why she gave me the big guns with the Z-pack.  

Anyway, today is my last day on the Z-pack.  The pills have made me feel kind of nauseous, but no big deal.  Well, last night, I was bending over to give the dog her dinner when I sort of regurgitated (sorry to be gross) in my mouth and then inhaled it.  Immediately after it happened, my throat started to hurt a little bit, but wasn't too bad.  Prior to that my ear infection had felt completely better, by the way.  I figured I had just burned my throat a bit and didn't really think about it the rest of the night.

This morning I woke up at 5am with extreme pain in a specific place in my throat.  It hurts all the time, but more when I swallow.  I called my surgeon's office, talked to his nurse who talked to the surgeon who felt this was due to the regurgitation and it wouldn't interfere with my surgery.

So now, I'm sitting here at work and I started feeling feverish.  I am a person who normally runs a temp. of around 97.5.  I happen to work in the business office of a big multi specialty clinic, so I ran up to a CNA friend in ENT and asked her to take my temperature.  It was 99.0.  While that's not high for most people, it's high for me.  As a frame of reference, when my appendix burst, my fever only got as high as 99.9.  Is it possible I aspirated some of what I regurgitated and that could be causing the fever?  

I guess I'm not sure what to do from here.  Is there anything that could be done?  Should I go to our convenient care facility?  Am I just extremely unfortunate and will have to reschedule the surgery?  I would be all sorts of upset if I got to the actual surgery, they took my temperature and sent me home.  That's why I want to take care of it now if that's possible.  

Any help, words of wisdom, advice, etc........ would be so greatly appreciated.  Shoot, if you even read this whole story, I appreciate it!!!

Thanks,
Amy

[ChitChatNine]

Try some Gaviscon.  That also will create a barrier when more of the  acid comes up .

Hang in there and let us know!!

C!

[amela321]

Thank you so much for all the replies.  I have a call into my surgeon's nurse and am waiting for her to call back.  Hopefully he can squeeze me into his schedule today.  My fever was around 100 last night and while I don't have a fever this morning, My throat is still killing me and I feel horrible.  I'm so upset this is happening.  I feel like my body is rebelling against me.  

[ChitChatNine]

You may have micro-aspirated ...........and unfortunately, even an x-ray may not reveal it.  The only reason I know about this is because my son had severe GERD (reflux) for years and 99.9 temps were commonplace with microaspiration .. higher temps would indicate aspiration pneumonia.

I'm not a Doc at all .. but I'd have it checked into more especially since you are going to be put out ..... may not be a good combo ... but maybe it is ok .. at least you'll get a  professional opinion

[thyroidbride]

I agree it is a good idea to be rechecked. Will give you added peace of mind, and if you have to reschedule surgery, it is better to know now

Good luck!

[Thypatient]

Hope you're feeling better today.

If you haven't already, it probably wouldn't hurt to get rechecked.  If anything to make sure the ear infection has cleared, since a low-grade fewer can be an indication of the presence of an infection.

Good luck with the eventual surgery.

[stella5349]

There are so many powerful infections out there attacking us lately- I think you do need a check up or more treatment before surgery.

LAst thing you want is to go through all the preparation and then be turned away b/c you are sick.

[worriedinmd]

Well, I read the whole story but I'm not sure I have any words of wisdom. If you have decent insurance, it's probably worth it for your peace of mind to go to the convenient care facility. You've got enough stress pre-op.

- viv