Immune system after major surgery

[Nancy]

Hi all-

Does anyone know the approximate time it takes after major surgery for the immune system to get to its pre-surgery status?

Joe has had the unfortunate experience of catching some rather nasty viral infections a little while after surgery 2 years ago. One of them I suspect may have played a roll in developing his mitral and tricuspid valve leaks, which are now requiring his new surgery on July 18. It also might have caused the scar tissue formation in his lung requiring his lung surgery 4 months ago. This is only a hunch on my part, nothing could prove it. But it does linger in the back of my mind.

Nancy

[ALCapshaw]

Nancy,

I developed a case of "walking pneumonia" (mild) in one lung 3 weeks after my bypass surgery. It definitely slowed my recovery. I suspect it set me back by about 3 weeks. I know this isn't an exact answer to your queston. All I can say is to keep doing as much walking as you can, without overdoing it, and eventually you will regain your strength. Keep a POSITIVE ATTITUDE and don't let these setbacks get you down.

Good luck and best wishes to Joe.

'AL'

[FredH]

Hi Nancy,
I did not have any problem with the immune system after surgery. Hopefully this was a one time thing for Joe and he won't have the problem this time. I did do everything I could to stay away from crowds of people and moved away from people if I heard them sneeze or anything. I also forced myself to eat a much as I could. I know this can be a problem right after surgery as you just don't feel like eating. I have found in the past whenever I tried to go on a diet to loose weight and was not eating good I caught something. He may also want to look at taking some vitamins. Good Luck

[LUVMyBirman]

Hi Nancy

Unfortunately, I caught "everything" under the sun during the first year of my recovery. Got the flu really really bad twice. Numerous colds and bacterial infections. Having a 2/3 year old at home did not help I am sure.

It takes a good year for your body to bounce back. If you suspect your husband has an infection....let his doctor know and they can prescribe an antibiotic. Seems like I lived on for awhile. Better to play it safe.

Take care,

[FredH]

After reading Gina's post I thought of another thing that might help. I am in Hawaii away from family and friend so after my surgery I didn't have any visitors. I did not go back to work for a month so my contact with the outside world other than taking walks was minimal. Hope this helps.

[Nancy]

I think you probably did it right Fred. I'm also leery of chair arms and counters in the hospital and doctors office, and I don't think I'm wrong about that. I made Joe put a bottle of Purel hand lotion in his car for after the hospital lab visits. There are a lot of very sick people that go through there.

He thinks I'm crazy!

Nancy

[LUVMyBirman]

Wish I could have "done it differently" but aside from getting rid of the child and moving into a plastic bubble, did not have much of a choice :(.

I did find that using all of those antibacterial hand soaps, wipes and other products did more harm than good. Hence the repeated illness. My doctor told me I was killing of the good bacteria. Followed his direction this year and have been sick once or twice.

Good luck