When to Call Your Cardiologist/ Primary Care Physician

When to Call Your Cardiac Surgeon

If you notice any of the following symptoms, call your cardiac surgeon:
• Increased pain, swelling, redness or bruising in or around your incisions
• Drainage from an incision, if an incision opens, or if your stitches (suture) appear
• Fever over 100.4° F (38.0° C), chills, fainting, or severe headache

When to Call Your Cardiologist/ Primary Care Physician

If you notice any of the following symptoms, call your cardiologist or primary physician:
• Shortness of breath
• Excessive tiredness and shortness of breath during activity that does not get better after 10 minutes of rest
• Immediately report any episode of sudden, unexplained shortness of breath.
• Any angina type chest pain
• Irregular heart beat with or without dizziness, nausea, sweating or shortness of breath
• Nausea and vomiting that continues for more than 24 hours
• If you gain more than two to three pounds in one day or more than three to five pounds in one week

If you have an emergency medical condition, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital. When you have an emergency medical condition, we cover emergency care from Plan providers and non-Plan providers anywhere in the world.

An emergency medical condition is (1) a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in serious jeopardy to your health or serious impairment or dysfunction of your bodily functions or organs; or (2) when you are in active labor and there isn’t enough time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital before delivery, or if transfer poses a threat to your or your unborn child’s health and safety.

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

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