Post-op symptom checker: should you call?

A common rule is to call your surgical team if your temperature reaches 101.5°F (38.6°C) or higher, especially a few days after surgery. A mild temperature in the first 24–48 hours is often just the body's response to surgery, but a fever that appears later, climbs, or comes with shivering, a hot or leaking wound, or feeling very unwell is more likely to mean infection and should be checked.

Treat as an emergency: chest pain or sudden breathlessness, coughing up blood, a painful, swollen, hot calf (possible clot), heavy bleeding that won't stop, a wound that bursts fully open, fainting, new confusion, or signs of a severe allergic reaction. Call your team the same day for spreading wound redness, pus or a bad smell, a wound opening or leaking, pain that suddenly worsens, repeated vomiting, or being unable to pass urine.

If you have an emergency symptom like chest pain, breathlessness or heavy bleeding, call emergency services (911) or go to the nearest emergency department now — don't wait for the surgery office to open. For worrying but not life-threatening signs such as a possible wound infection, call your surgical team, doctor or out-of-hours service the same day. When in doubt, it is always better to call than to sit on it.

No to both. This tool gives general guidance to help you tell ordinary healing from things worth a call — it can't examine you or replace your surgical team, your discharge leaflet or emergency services. Everything is worked out on your own device and nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. If you're worried, trust your instinct and contact a real clinician.