Surgery Day Is Finally Here!

Sometimes with our pre-operative jitters we forget what we did to prepare and what we read that we would feel like or look like, what to bring and how to act. With the below tips and information I hope that you will be more at ease and know what to expect today.  This list is just an example, as you should have received a similar list from your own surgeon. Always abide by your surgeon's instructions.

  • Arrive on time. You should have the arrival time in your information packet or at least confirm the night before and make the proper notation.  If you are late, the surgeon may cancel your surgery and charge you for it anyway. Then the surgery fee is non-refundable.
  • Arrive Clean. This means freshly-scrubbed with your instructed soap, clean DRY hair - NO lotions, deodorant powders, perfumes, make-up - zilch!
  • Wear your surgery "gear" - comfortable, easily-accessible, loose-fitting clothing with slippers.
  • DO NOT eat or drink anything after midnight on the evening prior to your surgery. Unless your surgery is an evening surgery -- which you should abide by your surgeon or anesthesiologist's instructions -- which is usually 6-8 hours beforehand.
  • DO NOT bring rings, watches, chains, or other jewelry or large sums of money to the surgery center or hospital; leave these items safely at home. If they become lost - the hospital or surgeon is not responsible.
  • Ask about Vitamin C capsules or tablets to be taken a few weeks prior to surgery. This is thought to promote good healing and ward off colds. Although Vitamin C promotes healing and helps with bruising it is possible that excessive Vitamin C consumption can cause over-collagetation (excess scar tissue formation) so adhere to your own surgeon's instructions.
  • Also, discuss with your doctor the use of SinEcch arnica montana or Bromelain, a pineapple extract, for added ant- bruising and anti- swelling properties. Even drinking pineapple juice for 3 days pre-operatively is reported to help.
  • Vitamin A is also a good one to take but as with any drugs, supplements or remedies ALWAYS check with your surgeon before you take anything.
  • Take any medications you were instructed to take with only a few sips of water. Such medications may be Catapres (blood pressure), prednisnone, anti-inflammatory, valium, antibiotics,  blood thickeners, etc.
  • Prior to surgery, should you develop any fever, chills or other signs of a cold or other infection, call your surgeon's office immediately. If you do not and HAVE to cancel, you may lose your money as you should never be operated on with already stressed immune system.

Bring with you any instructed meds, garments or bandages.

  • Bring a bucket or can, with a lid and some cool, bottled water to sip and rid you of the nasty taste you get after vomiting. Besides cool water really helps keep the nausea at bay.
  • Maybe bring a few packs of crackers to help with the nausea. Ritz crackers always seem like the best although plain saltines are fine. Low Sodium!

On To The Operating Room...
If you had been given an oral sedative or valium prior you usually could care less what they are going to be sticking in you - namely IV's.  If you haven't been given a sedative, it can be more stressful for some patients. It feels sort of like blood being drawn, but for a shorter period of time. It's the initial placement of the IV catheter that may sting a bit. After the needle is injected into the vein it is pulled out and a little plastic tube is left in your vein. The catheter is taped to your skin so it is not knocked out and is ready to be used as a sort of "doorway" for anything they deem suitable for your body. This is usually done before you get into the actual O.R. - by a nurse - and you have a saline bag hooked up to you. The medications will be given with a drip system with this saline. The saline will keep you hydrated both during and post-operatively.

Some people get it in the crook of the elbow, some the hand. I dislike the hand ones as it's a nasty place for a bruise to be, at least with the arm you can hide it - it all depends upon your veins.  This is what you may look like:

You are then brought to the O.R. if you aren't on the table yet. They insert a hypodermic into your tube that you are attached to or they attach the bag of it with a drip system to add a few drops every few minutes and when they spring open the stopper and it starts heading towards your body. The the effects of the anesthesia are felt soon after injection or opening the stopper - a few seconds in fact. It feels like "heat" going into you veins then creeping up your arm - then it "jumps" from your shoulder to a metallic-like taste under your tongue and then you are anesthetized. 

Gaseous-state anesthesia (Twilight, Gaseous General): All this entails is breathing through a mask. However this depends upon what type. The newer types fit over your mouth and nose  usually and force air into your lungs. Then again, Twilight or Laughing Gas can be given via a mask. With intubation you will have a tube down your throat but you don't usually remember it going in. You may wake up with a raw throat because of the tube. You may wake up with a sore, dry throat regardless because canned or cylinder air (scubadiving tanks as well) is d-r-y. There is no moisture in these tanks. It is your turbinates (three little fleshy flaps in your sinuses) inside your nasal structure that moisturizes the air which you breathe.  

Also be advised that if you have bronchospasm, asthma or other disorders such as this, intubation is contraindicated. Please make sure you read the risks associated with Anesthesia.

You basically are told to count down from 100, and see how far you can make it -- usually 96 or 97. After the gas hits the aveoli in your lungs, your blood is saturated by the anesthesia gases where they are carried to your central nervous system (CNS) where you are then blissfully anesthetized. 

Want to know how the surgery is performed? Read on...