Will the flu delay my surgery?!??!?!

I think I totally have the flu right now, and am sick with worry on whether this could delay my surgery or not. My surgery is less than 30days away, and I don't want anything to hamper me getting in as scheduled. Does anyone know what medications I need to avoid prior to surgery???? I feel like I've been run over by a mack truck.... Alli

Alli, If you can get to your PCP and get yourself on some antibiotics you should start feeling better by the end of the week. Your PCP should know more info of what would interfer with the surgery, you can always call the office and speak to one of the nurses and ask them, they would steer you in the right direction. I think it's option 5 on the phone menu. During your pre-op visit with Dr. Blackstone she gives you the list of medications you are on that you told them about in your initial consult, she will give you a schedule on when to stop taking those medications. My list had my Asthma medication and pain medication for my back and my multivitamin... I think I was to stop taking the MV one week before and my pain medication 3 days before and my asthma stuff the day before. She did ask me questions about my asthma and if I have ever taken Advair or any other oral steriods and I had told her I stopped taking them in July (3 months prior) because there was an issue with my White Blood Cell counts and my PCP was concerned that it was either from my epidural injections or the oral steriods. Dr. Blackstone had told me it was a good thing I stopped those because being on steriods inhibits your ability to heal properly and she would have cancelled my surgery and postponed it until I was clear of them for so many weeks. I would pump up on some vitamin C right now... Prior to surgery, I got myself one of the "Cold Busters" from Jamba Juice each day and was feeling better pretty quick... tons of vitamin C in those and they are tasty! Hope you feel better! Nicole

Nicole, as always you have all the info I need, thanks much. I too was on Advair last year, and kinda freaked when I read what you said but I took a look to see when I had it last, and it was sometime late summer last year. I'm still on Zyrtec and Singulair for my allergies/asthma so hopefully they won't cause me any problems. I was on a prednisone burst starting Feb 2 for a cold I had, do you think that will be any problem for me???? Alli

That reminded me Alli. I was on Zyrtec also and it wasn't a problem.

i know you need to stop taking any aspirin or anything with aspirin in it before any surgery as it thins your blood and can cause you to bleed. Dr. Blackstone added some heart medication for the week before and two weeks after the surgery. Something to keep the heart rate down. She may or may not do that for you. I had no heart problems. I'm not sure what determines if you need them or not. I also had to do a month of shots after which I know not everyone had to do. I had to stop taking my anti-inflamatory's like Motrin and such, but my vicodin was fine. I think she had stopped the lasix too. I was on an antibiotic the week before because I had a sore throat. I don't think I remembered to mention it to her, but It didn't cause me any problems.

Hey Melissa, thanks for the info. I just take some asthma medication on a regular basis, so I was a little worried about that. My pre-op class is on Wednesday, so when I'm in the office, maybe I can talk to someone about my meds.... Alli