Chronic Low Grade Fever After ALIF

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yakkwak

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Hello. Am writing from my itouch so please excuse typos. My wound looks and feels good. After a very bad night with fever and for some reason my feet hurting so like never before, I went to my infectious disease specialist. She said I had a 100* fever was dehydrated and my bp and heart rate elevated. She gave me iv fluiRAB right there and took samples for a million tests and cultures. She said not good to have fever so long. Should getefovine tp help soon. That's good since I'm getting ssooo tired. The fedbsvk here has been such a help. Thanks
 
If anyone has had this happen to them or knows what might cause it, please let me know. On 8-23-10, I had an open ALIF with PEEK cage & anchoring to hip bone and sacrum. Am slow to recover. Two post-op dr visits ago, I mentioned I've been running a low grade fever - from 99.5 to 100.5 off and on, never in the mornings but in some evenings and night. Also having night sweats. The night sweats could be because I also have ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and cannot take my Humira during post-surgery recovery as it is an immune suppressant. Last week when I went in to see the surgeon, I'd been waiting for over 1.5 hours and you can imagine the pain from sitting so long - so I forgot to mention that I was still having the intermittent fever and he did not think to ask me. He didn't say so, but I got the impression from the doc that I'm not recovering as fast as I should have and that's disappinting him; I left feeling guilty for some reason :dizzy:
Is it normal to have a low grade fever like this 4.5 weeks out from surgery? I notice that my pain is more significant when the fever is running. I When I get chills, it is my clue to take my temp.
Any suggestions? Please!!!

Anterior discectomy & fusion at C4-5, C5-6, C6-7
Anterior discectomy & fusion at C3-4
Posterior discectomy/revision due to pseudoarthrosis (failure to fuse)
and re-do of instrumentation at all cervical levels
Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)
Cardiac Pacemaker
Bronchiectasis
VERY recent L5-S1 open ALIF with cage & anchoring to hip bone and sacrum
 
Well if it were me I would call and notify the health professionals because if the Humira lowered your immune system before your surgery sufficiently and your system didn't recover completely then you could be running an infection.
 
Hi sub. My wound is clear and well healed. Stero strips are gone and all looks well there. Don't think it's source of my fever. I take showers. Couldn't get up out of tub so don't take baths. Was supposed to hear from dr yesterday with results from some of many labs taken. No word. Have only energy to stay on feet about 5-10 minutes at a time. Have bee reading about a condition called seretonin syndrome as I take Savella for nerve pain and meperidine pain meRAB. If this is cause can't do anything until Monday as on order to discontinue savella you have to titrate off with a particular schedule and I have no substitute for the pain medication. Fever was under 100 yesterday but occurring during of and on all hours now.
 
I had C4-C7 Fusion in 2006 and still experience low grade fevers and sweats occasionally and my doctors can't figure anything out.
 
Hi there in my past I took hot baths if I had a fever with good results. With showers I can alternate hot for 3 minutes cold 30 seconRAB and repeat this process 3 to 4 times ending with cold dry well and go to bed!
 
SJB: You were right. Because my fever has persisted despite oral antibiotics (!), I had a bunch of new labs taken and 4 sets of CT's. My Infectious Disease Spec. told me today that I have a post-operative infection (from my ALIF), most likely in the instrumentation :( and most likely it is hospital-resistant staph. She's recommended both oral and IV antibiotics and is suggesting to my surgeon that he go back into my lurabar/sacral spine area :(. Her suggestion includes surgically removing areas of infection and obtaining cultures for exact antibiotic treatment. I do NOT want to be re-opened again and told her that I'd like that to be a very last resort. Insurance just approved for a PIC line placement - will get within the next couple of days. I have thousanRAB in new deductables (my plan restarted Sept. 1st) :mad: Will see the surgeon tomorrow; hope he agrees NOT to put me back on the butcher block. :eek: Have been reading all sorts of nasty medical papers about how they have to remove the instrumentation. Couldn't determine whether they mean that to include the PEEK cage used for the fusion as well as the stabolization plate and screws.
Would appreciate any prayers and good thoughts my way.

C3-4, C4-5, C5-6, C6-7 fusion and instrumentation;
Subsequent redo of cervical levels due to pseudoarthrosis;
Cardiac pacemaker;
Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) with eroding SI Joints;
Osteoarthritis;
Bronchiectasis and pulmonary scarring;
8/2010 L5-S1 ALIF with PEEK cage, bone marrow aspiration, & anterior plate.
 
Thanks all for the feedback. KCarroll- sorry you, too, are having this fever problem. I did call my surgeon's office but the "gate-keeper" who answers his phone told me to go to the emergency room! I'm not likely to do that for for a low grade fever!!!! Particularly since I'd have to pay 100% of the bill for it right now... So, I then called my family doc. Apparently they aren't too happy about picking up mid-treatment on someone else's case but probably would see me if I make a huge fuss.... At this point, I guess I'll just wait it out and hope I don't have the fever for 4 years like KCarroll :eek: My next follow-up with the surgeon is in 2 weeks. I'll re-emphasize the problem then and see what he says. Serenity Prayer :angel:
 
Hi there, Is your wound from the surgery completely healed? Did the surgeon give you permission for showers or baths?
 
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