Do you act on it? Do you monitor it at regular intervals? Do you watch it and hope it goes back down? Do you wrap in a warm blanket to stop shivering? What if it happens on a Weekend, Holiday, after hours?
With the arrival of flu season, and the fast approaching holidays and festivities, I think that it is a good time to re-vist and re-activate the question: What do you do when your temperature goes up?
I have the most wonderful PCP who is always willing to see me when I need to see him for a fever, flu like symptoms, etc. He has even told me to come during the quiet uncrowded times to avoid germs. He is the one who discovered my elevated liver function results nearly 20 years ago, and who sent me to a gastroenterologist. So when I need a doctor 'during office hours' he is there for me.
However, it is the after hours that cause me worry. Too many of the admitting staff and even medical support staff at urgent treatment and ER do not understand that as a transplant recipient, I cannot/will not be shrugged off if my temperature or symptoms do not meet the 'normal' criteria. Things have improved locally as training and awareness of organ transplantation is becoming more widespread. Each time I have to do this, the on duty doctor tells me that I did the right thing to come. So …
What do you do? What will you do? -if you develop symptoms during the holidays – What if you are traveling? What if it is after hours? What are your thoughts? What would you share with others?
@rosemarya the ER doctors treat me with priority as soon as I convey to them that I'm a transplant recipient at any hospital in Ontario. Im not sure about elsewhere in Canada or out of country as I'm not planning anything until fall next year to go south to the islands.
With the arrival of flu season, and the fast approaching holidays and festivities, I think that it is a good time to re-vist and re-activate the question: What do you do when your temperature goes up?
I have the most wonderful PCP who is always willing to see me when I need to see him for a fever, flu like symptoms, etc. He has even told me to come during the quiet uncrowded times to avoid germs. He is the one who discovered my elevated liver function results nearly 20 years ago, and who sent me to a gastroenterologist. So when I need a doctor 'during office hours' he is there for me.
However, it is the after hours that cause me worry. Too many of the admitting staff and even medical support staff at urgent treatment and ER do not understand that as a transplant recipient, I cannot/will not be shrugged off if my temperature or symptoms do not meet the 'normal' criteria. Things have improved locally as training and awareness of organ transplantation is becoming more widespread. Each time I have to do this, the on duty doctor tells me that I did the right thing to come. So …
What do you do? What will you do? -if you develop symptoms during the holidays – What if you are traveling? What if it is after hours? What are your thoughts? What would you share with others?
@rosemarya I have the advantage of being only @55 miles from Mass General, my transplant hospital. My PCP agrees that I should go there if possible, When I had a 103 or 104 fever 2 years ago (I thought 103, but my husband says 104. He’s probably right) my husband immediately called MGH and they said to bring me right down. That was when I had Legionnaire’s. I didn’t actually have any symptoms other than the temperature. I often tend to be asymptotic.
When we consider traveling I look into where the closest hospital that does transplants, preferably liver, is. @danab, it sounds as if you plan to do the same. We have not had any foreign travel since my transplant, the furthest we have gone is Hawaii. I would love to go to the Caribbean again but I would check with a doctor at MGH who is an infectious disease doctor and she specializes in foreign travel, and making sure you have whatever shots you might need. I think most European countries have good medical care so I think they would be OK. We would like to go to Italy again, maybe Ireland since that is my heritage, and there are other countries I would love to go to before we are too old to travel.
If traveling make sure you know where the transplant hospital(sl are, just in case, so you don’t need to waste time. I would imagine that those hospitals would definitely give you priority. Based on my local hospital, I don’t know how other hospitals would do though.
JK
@rosemarya the ER doctors treat me with priority as soon as I convey to them that I'm a transplant recipient at any hospital in Ontario. Im not sure about elsewhere in Canada or out of country as I'm not planning anything until fall next year to go south to the islands.
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@rosemarya the ER doctors treat me with priority as soon as I convey to them that I'm a transplant recipient at any hospital in Ontario. Im not sure about elsewhere in Canada or out of country as I'm not planning anything until fall next year to go south to the islands.
@rosemarya I have the advantage of being only @55 miles from Mass General, my transplant hospital. My PCP agrees that I should go there if possible, When I had a 103 or 104 fever 2 years ago (I thought 103, but my husband says 104. He’s probably right) my husband immediately called MGH and they said to bring me right down. That was when I had Legionnaire’s. I didn’t actually have any symptoms other than the temperature. I often tend to be asymptotic.
When we consider traveling I look into where the closest hospital that does transplants, preferably liver, is. @danab, it sounds as if you plan to do the same. We have not had any foreign travel since my transplant, the furthest we have gone is Hawaii. I would love to go to the Caribbean again but I would check with a doctor at MGH who is an infectious disease doctor and she specializes in foreign travel, and making sure you have whatever shots you might need. I think most European countries have good medical care so I think they would be OK. We would like to go to Italy again, maybe Ireland since that is my heritage, and there are other countries I would love to go to before we are too old to travel.
If traveling make sure you know where the transplant hospital(sl are, just in case, so you don’t need to waste time. I would imagine that those hospitals would definitely give you priority. Based on my local hospital, I don’t know how other hospitals would do though.
JK
@gaylea1, Enjoy making your future plans! You have worked hard to achieve this.
Thang Rosemary.