Infection worries 3rd day post-op

[underbitewars]

This is my 18yo daughter's 3rd day post op Lefort 1 osteotomy (3rd day including surgery day). Her swelling is pretty bad, but it seems within the normal range.

My worry is that she keeps complaining about her face being "too hot." Her temp is 99.2, but that could be misleading since she's getting ibuprofen every 5-6 hours. We called her surgeon, and he said it's usually dehydration, but if it gets to 101.5 then he's concerned.

I was considering not redosing her ibuprofen the next time it's due and see if her temp goes up even more, but I hate for her to suffer. We are going for her followup tomorrow (15 hours from now), so if she does have an infection, can it wait till then? Just wondering what others think I should do.

Last night we had a scary incident where she fell asleep w the cold packs on her face, and when she woke up she was shivering uncontrollably. I surmised it was a mild hypothermia once we got her warmed up again and the shivers went away.

I keep trying to tell her (and myself) these are the toughest days and things will get better soon....

[tylerjwilson]

I'm 4 weeks and 1 day post-op of a 3 piece lefort. I crested around day 4, after surgery. My surgery was on a Wednesday, so on Sunday is when I started to feel like I had a sense of worth again. You'd be surprised what another day or two will do. The first week is the absolute worst, it will get better.

While I'm not all better, I'm also not restrictive of much. I was driving around town at day 5, just keeping myself busy until I started back to my job, which allows me to work from home. I get my splint off in abour 5 days on Wednesday, but who is counting? I was peeking around inside my cheeks and saw that I still had some stitches directly under my nose area, which grossed me out to the point where I thought I would throw up. I'm not one for seeing that kind of stuff, let alone, in my own body.

[underbitewars]

Thanks for the response tylerjwilson! Today was an especially soul crushing day for her, so I hope it only gets better from here. She was finally able to relax and sleep after taking some hydrocodone (ibuprofen just wasn't cutting it anymore). I'm with you on being grossed out by that stuff...best of luck on your splint removal (and congrats!!)

[underbitewars]

In case anyone wonders - no she doesn't appear to have an infection.

I'm about to have a breakdown about my lack of smoothie cred. They are all turning out "too foamy." I'm using a ninja. Pls send help.

[underbitewars]

Is it normal to need the following dosages for pain meds on day 4 after surgery?

Three x 600 ibuprofen
Two x 7.5 Hydrocodone/325 APAP

[tylerjwilson]

I was prescribed liquid oxycodone and 800mg ibuprofen tablets... I took the ibuprofen to help with swelling, but after 5 days, I started taking regular 200mg tablets as I really had no pain at all. It was all more about being uncomfortable. I would just make sure your daughter is truly in pain and not just seeing side effects of numbness or uncomfortableness. Maybe it would be worth giving her a few regular ibuprofen to see if it helps take the edge off things, unless she is truly in pain.

[underbitewars]

Well today we waited 2 hours longer before giving her the hydrocodone, and I could tell she really needed it (this was 5 hours after taking 600mg ibuprofen + 500mg acetaminophen). She says her pain is slowly lessening, but it seems to me she's having more than the average amount of pain for this surgery. I'm keeping careful track of the daily totals for ibuprofen and acetaminophen (including the acetaminophen in with the hydrocodone) to make sure we don't go over the limit.