The Day of Surgery
The day of your surgery has arrived. Today is the start of your road to recovery. It is normal to be anxious due to the uncertainty of what lies ahead and the unfamiliarity of the surgical process. Hopefully this page can give you an idea about what the day will be like and ease your concerns.
What to Do
- Take your morning medications with a sip of water except for any medications you were told to hold.
- DO NOT have anything to eat or drink.
- Take another shower in the morning to minimize your risk of infection. Use the special soap (chlorohexidine gluconate) if it was given to you.
- Give yourself plenty of time to get to the hospital.
What to Bring
- Bring the clothes and personal hygiene items you packed the night before along with any glasses, hearing aids, dentures, or CPAP that you use (overnight surgery only).
- Bring your insurance card and ID.
- Bring your list of medications.
What to Expect
- After getting checked in, you will have your vital signs taken and change into a hospital gown.
- You will be asked many times about your name, date of birth, allergies, and side of your surgery. This is for your own safety.
- You will meet with an anesthesiologist to discuss the type of anesthesia you will receive. Many of our patients also receive a regional block which numbs the region of the surgery.
- You will meet with your surgeon one last time to mark the site of the surgery, make sure any last paper work is filled out, and any last remaining questions are answered.
- A family member can usually be with you up until the time you are wheeled back into the operating room.
- Unless you are first case of the day, your scheduled surgery time is an estimate. It is impossible to accurately predict how long the cases before you will take to complete. We appreciate your patience and flexibility with any delays or time changes.
- Most patients do not remember anything about being in the operating room. Although you are awake when you are wheeled back into the operating room, the amnestic effects of the medications and anesthesia generally prevent you from remembering the experience.
- You will be reunited with your family as soon as you have had a chance to adequately recover from anesthesia and the surgery.
