Resuming Activities and Exercise After Heart Surgery. If your surgery required an incision on your sternum (breastbone), it will take about 6-8 weeks for your sternum to heal. During this time, you may do light household chores, such as laundry, shopping, cooking, light gardening, dusting, and washing dishes when you feel up to it.
The most common culprits of a viral throat infection include coxsackievirus, mononucleosis, and the flu. Mononucleosis (mono) is a virus that causes symptoms that can last for weeks or months at a time. Viral throat infections are best treated with rest, liquids and other home remedies. If the sore throat causes you to have trouble breathing or a high fever, or results in spots in the back of your throat, call your doctor.
A throat culture is a test to check for a bacterial or fungal infection in the throat. A sample swabbed from the throat is put in a special cup (culture) that allows infections to grow. If an infection grows, the culture is positive.The type of infection is found using a microscope, chemical tests, or both. Find the cause of a sore throat. 2  Most sore throat infections are caused by a virus. 3  A throat culture shows the difference between a bacterial infection and a viral infection. 4  Finding the organism that is causing the infection can guide treatment.