Coming down with a cold and surgery is in 5 days!

[Brittanysiemens 3]

My husband has been a sick mess all week, and though I've tried to avoid catching his cold, it's become CLEAR I have it.

I CANNOT reschedule my surgery, I pulled major strings to get this time off.

Will I still be able to safely? I know dr. Kelly is VERY thorough with his safety precautions. I do not want to call and have them insist I reschedule.

I only feel a bit light headed, but I'm fairly stuffed up. Anyone experience surgery during a moderate cold?

[Sambrettsmom 1]

Hey, I also had a cold the week before my surgery and was frantic, I had everything in place... Miraculously the day of surgery I felt pretty good. My only advice is to have Vicks 44 cough Syrup at home waiting for you. I went 3 days of coughing after surgery and was about ready to throw in the towel my belly hurt so badly. Finally it dawned on me I could take cough syrup. DUH! That helped tremendously and also helped me sleep!

Good luck and hope it all goes well. I had my surgery 9/27 and am 5 weeks out. Down 32 pounds as of today!!

GO GET EM!!!

[Brittanysiemens 3]

Thats encouraging!

I hope I feel better, but if not liquid medicine will be my best friend.

I am mostly concerned my surgery will be safe if I'm totally sick, I wonder if mucus would affect things or just my illness in general.

I guess I'll have to just pray and see.

[itscometothis 12]

Hi there.. I had C-Diff when I had surgery.. I also had a cold. Dr. Kelly put me on medication for the C-Diff(google it.. nasty) and my cold was minor enough to do the surgery. Not only was I fine, but getting meds through an IV got rid of the C-Diff! If you need reassurance call Dr. Kelly. Your health is the most important thing. I was on the operating table and said that if he wasn't 100% sure I was willing to wait and he said I was going to be perfectly fine.. and I was Hope this helps! GOOD LUCK!!

[putasleeveonit 16]

Get plenty of Vitamin C and Zinc in.

[fatticus ratticus 0]

well - im a Nurse and i can honestly say that the Vitamin c and zinc really does work -

if its a regular run of the mill nasty cold thing i do it and it usually does the trick - on the other hand it may NOT be run of the mill and it may not work so great for you - BUT - lots of Vitamin C and zinc can't hurt u either so u may as well try it

this is my routine for it as given by my friend who's a homeopath -

a bag of vicks lozenges with zinc and c in them and a bottle of 1000mg Vitamin C with rosehips - take 2 or 3 of the Vitamin C morning noon and night - with food if possible - for a total of 6000 to 9000 mg vitamin c daily

and suck on the vicks lozenges thru the day & evening -

BE SURE THOUGH AND FOLLOW ALL UR DOC'S GUIDELINES FOR PRE-SURGERY - nothing oral past a certain point before surgery (usually 11pm or midnight the night before) and that includes Vitamins supplements a day or so before - and you should have cut out ASPIRIN ESPECIALLY - as a matter of fact if u are a regular aspirin taker for heart health u need to be sure to check with your doctor because doctors usually want u to stop taking it SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE SURGERY -

when i do this my body usually kicks the cold in a few days and its an easy trip - not alot of nasty nasal stuff - and if there is i manage THAT with Vicks ultrafine mist nasal spay - 12 hr strength and ONLY at night when i am lying down to sleep -

i only spray one pump each nostril then wait a minute or 2 and if needed spray again and wait again - by doing this you're "assessing" your nasal membranes reaction to it - bc you may not NEED a 3 pump dosage - i usually need 2 pumps - and the med does a great job of loosening up the passages enough to get a good snotty "blow out" - :ack2:

plus i've found only the ULTRA FINE MIST works great - its in a pump sprayer bottle - the other kind that u squeeze usually doesn't distribute the medication evenly or as efficiently into the nasal membranes - but remember only use it at night to help promote sleep so u get no big "refractory" or "rebound" nasal swelling trouble from overuse - and thats important for you bc you're going into surgery - stop using it at least 2 nights before your surgery -

BUT - all that said - if i manage to CATCH THE COLD IT AS ITS TRYING TO GET A HOLD OF ME - then this trick actually STOPS IT for me!! :biggrin2:

good luck!! hope u feel better or even KICK IT and dont get it!!

and so happy for u getting ur surgery and onto a new & healthier you!!

[Brittanysiemens 3]

THANK YOU fat rat! What an asset you are to us as a helpful nurse, you've helped me quite a bit. The cold has been manageable with the Vitamin c!

[fatticus ratticus 0]

ooooooh... thanks for making me feel appreciated - sometimes being a nurse is TOUGH because docs and others take u and ur service totally for granted - nice to know i can STILL make a bit of a difference and help along the way - be SWEET to the GOOD caring nurses taking care of you! i know sometimes we get real DUDS taking care of us - but pity those NICE ones that take care of you because they have to work with those "nasty nellie" type nurses!

they dont get to ditch 'um and check out and go home - LOL!! i;m very excited for u and ur WLS brittany!! heres wishing your way all the absolute BEST!! lemme know how it all turns out ok? ok!!

i'll look for ur update!

[Brittanysiemens 3]

I have 2 nurses in my family and considered it once, but I wasn't up to the tough work- nursing is a very tough career and it's not for everyone, I don't think most dr.s could do it! I despise the assumption that being a nurse is somehow lesser than a dr.- nurses do and know a whole lot no MD does, and they honestly are Hsiang the most helpful to patients.

That said, I adore plenty of dr.s too!

[Brittanysiemens 3]

I have 2 nurses in my family and considered it once, but I wasn't up to the tough work- nursing is a very tough career and it's not for everyone, I don't think most dr.s could do it! I despise the assumption that being a nurse is somehow lesser than a dr.- nurses do and know a whole lot no MD does, and they honestly are Hsiang the most helpful to patients.

That said, I adore plenty of dr.s too!

[k__ 3]

I had a cold at the time of my surgery. Dr. Campos gave me Afrin which helped with the symptoms and breathing. It is one of those medications that you have to be careful about, due to rebound swelling, etc., but it sure does work wonders. Anyhow, having the cold did make me more uncomfortable for the first few days of recovery, but otherwise I didn't suffer any more than anyone else.

Take care, and I hope your entire procedure is uneventful!

[fatticus ratticus 0]

I have 2 nurses in my family and considered it once, but I wasn't up to the tough work- nursing is a very tough career and it's not for everyone, I don't think most dr.s could do it! I despise the assumption that being a nurse is somehow lesser than a dr.- nurses do and know a whole lot no MD does, and they honestly are Hsiang the most helpful to patients.

That said, I adore plenty of dr.s too! :smile1:

LOL - theres a few docs that i adore too - we nurses at my hospital have a few in every area of practice that we go out of our way for - they're the ones that actually treat u well and dont try to dish you attitude if u ask them a question about an order -

amongst ourselves we have a list of "approved" doctors that we make a point of refering ppl to based on their excellent standard of care, the feedback we recieve from patients about their bedside manner - AND - their "NURSE SIDE" manner - lol - :wink1:

and u are SOOOO right brittany - nursing is NOT for everyone - you for SURE have to have a certain inner strength to do it - the ones i admire MOST are the ones that have been at it for YEARS and years - and are not short tempered or dismissive with patients - they are STILL kind and caring and thoughtful with them.... :angel_smile: