Prescirbed antibiotics 5 days before scheduled donation surgery......

[tigers]

I was just prescribed antibiotics for a cold I have come down with. I'm scheduled in 5 days to dontate kidney. Will the hospital want to cancel due to this? Seems as though being on antibiotics before surgery would be beneficial.... I have called coordinator but have not heard back. Very very curious.... been waiting for 2 years for this day to come..

[sherri]

Antibiotics are not usually prescribed for a cold but rather for some type of bacterial infection. do you have sinusitis, respiratory infection, strep or something else? You can also call the prescribing physician, NP or PA and make sure they are aware of your upcoming surgery. You will definitely need to make your health care team aware of any medications you are currently taking or have been on recently. They should also ask you questions about having had a recent cough, runny nose, or any other symptoms of possible infection. Please be hones.  Anasthesia will need to know as well as the surgeon. Better be safe than cause harm to yourself or your recipient. Surprised your coordinator has not contacted you. Are they generally good at getting back?

Let us know what happens. Good luck with the surgery and hope everything goes safely and uneventful.

Sherri

[tigers]

It's a upper respitory infection. The prescribing Dr. said to contact the coordinator. No, they actually are not good at returning calls. I gets pretty irritating after awhile. I will of course be honest, I just hate to have to "re=schedule". It's been a long road waiting for this day and many schedule changes for families involved etc. We shall see I guess....

[sherri]

When you undergo anasthesia for any type of surgery there is a risk of pneumonia so if you do have a compromised respiratory issue going on they may want to postpone until you finish your course of antibiotics and make sure the infection is clear. Remember you had to have a chest xray to make sure you were healthy to donate. Also after the surgery (and most surgeries for that matter) you will be given a spirometer which is the little device used for you to blow in to make sure your lungs are functioning well after surgery. So I hope things go as planned but if they do have to be delayed a bit, it would be better to be safe than have a negative outcome from an elective procedure.

Also hope the coordinator gets back to you soon. It seems to be a common occurrence that some hospitals do not have a responsive staff towards their donors. You want to make sure they will be there for you if something does go wrong so it might be a good idea to speak with your independent donor advocate. If you have not been assigned to one, then ask if they have one for their donors. This is someone not affiliated with the hospital or team in any way and is supposed to act on behalf of the donor. Different than the nurse coordinator or social worker.

Good luck.

Sherri

[Orchidlady]

We were told that we were to call if we became ill anywhere within a 14 day window of the surgery. I remember that, at the time, there was a cold going around. I was doing my best to stay away from people and washing my hands like a mad woman. I even carried around a pocketful of napkins so I wouldn't have to touch door handles!

Sherri is giving you sound advice to call and alert the center. Your body will be under enough stress from the surgery, and rallying its efforts to heal from that trauma. The added strain of a cold could cause more problems and issues than waiting a few days.

Good luck, and hope you are feeling better soon!

[lawphi]

I took antibiotics prior to surgery for a uti.  I also had bronchitis from February till June.  The surgery nipped the bronchitis in the bud. Seriously, it was the first time I woke up without a cough in months.

I was told the antibiotics are to prevent anything passed to the recipient.

[jstx]

My transplant center put me on antibiotics for 3 days prior to surgery because of a slight infection found in my urine test a week prior to surgery (it was my blood draw & urine test scheduled by the TC). As Sherri said, you definitely want to let them know. If they postpone, though not ideal & a disappointment, it might be the best thing for you to heal. But then they might also say it's fine. Good luck! You're doing an amazing thing!!