 Beginning on July 23 , Garfield took a turn for the worse . His temperature increased to 104 ° F ( 40 ° C ) ; doctors , concerned by a pus sac that had developed by the wound , operated and inserted a drainage tube . This initially seemed to help , and Garfield , in his bed , was able to hold a brief cabinet meeting on July 29 , though members were under orders from Bliss to discuss nothing that might excite Garfield . Doctors probed the sac , which went into Garfield 's body , hoping to find the bullet ; they most likely only made the infections worse . Garfield performed only one state act in August , signing an extradition paper . By the end of the month , the president was much more feeble than he had been , and his weight had decreased to 130 pounds ( 59 kg ) . 
