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Surgery & recovery
When to call the office, and when to call 911
Nobody here minds a phone call. This page sorts the things that come up into three piles: call 911 now, call the office today, and call the office tomorrow. If you are not sure which pile something belongs in, that is a call.
Call 911 tonight if
Chest pain or trouble breathing that is sudden or severe, a face that droops or an arm that goes weak, fainting, or bleeding that will not stop. During chemotherapy, a temperature of 100.4°F or higher is an emergency even if you feel well, because the medicine can lower the white cells that protect you from infection: call the number your oncology team gave you, and if you cannot reach them, go to the emergency department and tell them you are on chemotherapy.
After surgery: call the office the same day if
Call the office the same day at (208) 706-4650. After hours, the answering service reaches the surgeon on call.
- A temperature over 101°F.
- Chest pain.
- Shortness of breath that is getting worse.
- More drainage than before.
- Shaking chills.
- Redness spreading from an incision, warmth, or thick, yellow, or smelly drainage.
- An incision that opens.
- Swelling that is tight, painful, and growing quickly, or fresh bruising that keeps spreading.
- Pain that is getting worse instead of better.
- Nausea or vomiting that stops you keeping fluids down.
- No bowel movement by day three while taking opioid pain medicine.
- Anything on the drain list below.
- Anything that worries you. There is no wrong reason to call.
Call the office, (208) 706-4650
Chest pain or shortness of breath that is sudden or severe. Bleeding that does not stop with steady pressure. Fainting, or feeling about to. New pain, swelling, redness, or warmth in one calf or leg, which can be a blood clot. Uncontrolled pain.
When to call about a Jackson-Pratt drain
Call for any of these. There is no wrong reason to call. Dr. Perkins’ full drain care instructions are on the after-surgery instructions page and in the drain log app.
- Water gets into the dressing.
- The dressing is loose or falling off.
- The drain bulb will not stay squeezed flat.
- You think your skin may be reacting to the dressing, such as a rash or blisters.
- A drain’s output has been less than 30 mL in 24 hours for two days in a row, no sooner than 7 days after surgery. The nurse will go over your output with you and schedule a visit to take the drain out.
- You have had the drains in for more than 2 weeks.
- Redness, swelling, hardness, or warmth of the skin around the drain site.
- Fluid leaking around the tube where it enters the skin.
- The fluid turns cloudy, thick, milky, or smells bad.
- The fluid turns bright red again, or the bulb fills quickly, after it had slowed down.
- The drainage stops suddenly and stripping does not bring it back.
- The stitch comes loose, or the tube slides part way or all the way out. Do not try to put it back in. Cover the site with clean gauze and tape, and call.
- Pain at the drain site that is getting worse instead of better.
- Any question at all. There is no wrong reason to call.
Call the office, (208) 706-4650
Call the office tomorrow if
A new lump or change. A callback letter you do not understand. A biopsy result you want explained. A question that is keeping you up. For someone to talk to tonight, the support page lists who answers at any hour, including 988 for emotional crisis.
If you need someone to talk to
For someone to talk to tonight, the support page lists who answers at any hour, including 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, by call or text. The office answering service reaches the surgeon on call after hours for anything medical.
Published 9 September 2026 from the guide and the after-surgery page; updated 11 September 2026 with Dr. Perkins’ own call list and drain instructions; read and approved by Dr. Perkins 13 September 2026. Every clinical line is on the site’s verification ledger.