I see posting after posting in the online hyst forums describing all sorts of situations and asking this question. And the only possible answer is, invariably, yes.
Yes, if anything at all happens that worries you or makes you wonder whether or how your postop instructions apply, you should call your doctor.
Yes, you should call your doctor if it happens at 10 am on a weekday and yes, you should call your doctor if it happens at 1 am on Sunday. Every surgeon has a mechanism for taking calls and a relief on-call doctor who will be available if he is off. You may have to leave a message with an answering service and wait for a callback, but you can and should take your questions to a doctor. No one on a forum, no matter how well-educated or well-intentioned, has the information at hand to answer your questions safely and applicably. In fact, if your doctor or his on-call is in doubt because of the limitations of discussing things on the phone, he may ask you to come to the office or be seen in the Emergency Room just so that you can be evaluated more fully. Doctors understand the limitations of phone consultations; women on forums, however well-motivated they may be, tend not to.
"But I hate to disturb my doctor with what might be a silly question..." is an all-too-common response. Nonsense. You are paying the doctor for a service, and part of that service is postoperative supervision. Whether you have developed a complication requiring further treatment or whether your doctor failed to adequately instruct you on what to expect, the doctor is a contractor being paid for a specific service and you are entirely entitled to that full service for those big bucks.
There are things you can do to help make your call as effective as possible. First of all, before you even pick up the phone, jot down some notes. Write out as explicitly as possible what your worries or questions are. Include such background information as when you had your surgery, what surgery it was, what medications and hrt you are on (include when you last took them), what your temperature is or other pertinent information about your physical condition. Your doctor may take your call from a location where he doesn't have your chart or his notes available, and you don't want to rely upon his (crowded) memory for important details.
Doctors respond better to clear, objective information, not subjective responses. Saying in tears that "I feel totally horrible and I'm really worried!!!!" does not convey nearly as much helpful information to the doctor as "I am running a fever of 101, my head has been pounding for 6 hours despite taking [pain medication type and dose and time of last dose], and my incision looks red, puffy and is draining green pus that made a circle 1" in diameter on a dressing in the past 6 hours." The first comment will likely get a soothing response or a suggestion that you need an antidepressant; the second may see you with an office visit and an antibiotic prescription—very different results indeed.
So if you are describing your incision, you need to be prepared to report the following:
- location
- how long this has been going on/when you first noticed it
- color: red, pale, normal skin tone?
- temperature of the area: hot? same as surrounding tissues?
- presence or absence of local swelling, feeling of area: hard? soft? hard lump with distinct edges? dimensions of lump in inches/cm?
- sensation of area: hurts all the time? hurts when touched gently/pushed on? sharp pain or ache? burning pain or stabbing pain?
- smell: no particular odor? medicinal? foul or rotting meat odor?
- drainage description: clear pinkish-yellowish? bright red blood? old clotted blood? pus? green? yellow?
- drainage amount: size of stain on dressing in [whatever] amount of time, how many times you've changed what type of pad or dressing in past [whatever] amount of time?
- your temperature taken just before calling, as well as when you last took it and what it was then
If you think you are having hormonal problems, you need to be prepared to report the following:
- what you are taking for hrt
- when you take it and when you last took it
- what specific symptoms you are having that you attribute to your hormones: hot flashes? mood swings? rash? swelling? headache? nausea?
- for each symptom, further list: when it began, how many times you've had it, how long it lasts (for example: hot flashes started today, I have had 6 lasting 10-30 seconds each and each time more intense/causing heavier sweat or I have burst into tears inappropriately 4 times today and yelled at my kids when they really didn't deserve it twice)
By having this sort of information ready, you're giving your doctor the information he needs to identify and constructively deal with your problem, not your reaction to your problem. And that will make for a whole lot more satisfaction all around. And, hey, if it turns out to be something perfectly normal, then you have the reassurance and your doctor's learned a lesson about preparing you for what to expect that will benefit the next woman he treats. Everyone wins!
Posts
