Can anybody tell me why my body temp was 92 DEGREES after lobectomy???

Posted by julie67 @julie67, Aug 22 11:48am

Dr won't tell me! Just laughed and said' we keep the operating room cold'. I remember being in recovery and them taking vitals, temp was 92. She called other nurses. They all got same. They called Dr. Then they all started throwing warm blankets on me and calling the doc. I THINK I remember being there for hrs and they said if I didn't start warming up soon, they had to take me to a special heated room. After hours I finally got back to normal. Anyone had this happen or know why this happened? Will I suffer any long damage from being so cold??? Dr won't tell me why this happened and it's bothering me. I can't imagine an operating room being so cold I got down to that temp!!!!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Lung Cancer Support Group.

Lisa, Volunteer Mentor | @lls8000 | Aug 22 7:18pm

@julie67, It may not be that the doctor won't tell you, it's more probable that they just don't have an answer. They likely aren't hiding anything. Not everything can be explained, and each case is different. The nurses recognized the situation, took action, and were able to resolve issue.
Time is often difficult to determine when we are coming out of anesthesia. Your chart may show the vital signs and time of entry.
People that get stuck outside in winter can go into sever hypothermia and recover just fine. Obviously, your body endured the trauma of surgery at the same time. I'm not a doctor, and not familiar with the impact that a low body temp may have on your recovery. Either way, that's not something that you have control over now. You need to try to focus on healing.

denzie | @denzie | Aug 22 10:18pm

Lisa's comment is right on. People do suffer from hypothermia with no damage.

layla123 | @layla123 | Aug 23 7:58am

I remember being wheeled into the operating room for my lobectomy and it was like going into a freezer. I think it has to be that way to control bacteria and such. It took a long time for my body to warm up to normal temperature after the surgery.

thenazareneshul | @thenazareneshul | Aug 23 10:23am

My body temp can, and does, do that without needing an extra cold operating room. Some ER wait rooms are that cold, in my experience. 98.6 F is not set in stone as humans go. It's the average. The older I get (70 now) the lower my body temp goes, as a rule. I've often told nurses that if my body temp registers 98.6, I've got a fever and am sick. They just laugh, but I"m serious. I lived in Alaska and people do adjust, just as those who live in high temperatures adjust somewhat to that too. It really shouldn't cause you permanent harm that you went through that. We humans are made for sterner stuff than that. Anybody being put out for a surgery, then enduring a surgery, is a trauma, a shock, to your body. Some of us are no longer built for extremes of temperature but yours should bounce back. Why they had it so cold I don't know. But every surgery I've ever had was in a cold operation room. My last one they had puffy disposable blankets that were heated with warm air blowing into them for me before and after I was actually taken in where the surgery was to be done. I told them I wanted to take that blanket home with me! Maybe not "go under" at that surgery site anymore if they can't be humane about it to the patients!

julie67 | @julie67 | Aug 23 11:21am

Yes, definetly not with that surgeon again. I saw him yesterday for stitches out. He has now said 3 things to me that are concerning. Only thing is, they want to schedule me for a port now with him. Told them I am not going back to him. Now I haven't heard back who they are going to get for the port. Shouldn't this be happening fast to keep it from spreading? Can they start chemo as soon as port is on or do they have to wait for it to heal or something? I haven't even googled/looked up port yet. It seems so creepy not sure how i will deal with it. Thanks for making me feel better about temp!!