Steps To Prepare For Your Surgery Day

At some point in your life, you could be faced with surgery of some kind. It might be something simple that doesn’t require staying in the hospital overnight or might be something that involves rehabilitation and aftercare services. There are some tips that you can keep in mind when you begin preparing for surgery that can ease your mind and your nerves and that can ease your recovery process. 

Find out as much as you can about the surgery that you’re going to have done before the day of the procedure. Talk to your doctor about why you’re having the surgery and what’s involved in recovery. Take a tour of the hospital or outpatient center to look at the rooms where patients stay before going back for surgery as well as the operating room if possible. When you know more about surgical procedures Nashville TN doctors perform, you will begin to feel comfortable about the steps involved with the procedure. 

Before you go to the operating room, your surgeon will make a mark on your skin to ensure that the correct area is worked on instead of the wrong area. Find out about the anesthesia options that are available. If the surgery will last longer than about 30 minutes or if the surgery is detailed, then general anesthesia is often used. However, if the procedure isn’t expected to take very long and is considered minor, then sedation will likely be used. This means that you won’t know what’s going on around you and might go to sleep during the procedure. Your comfort is at the forefront of anesthesia options, which is why it’s important to voice your concerns and anxieties before the day of surgery. 

Waking up during surgery is often a fear that many people have. This is another reason why you need to talk to your anesthesiologist about what you’re concerned with regarding the procedure. Stronger medications can be used along with better monitoring to ensure that you don’t wake up during surgery. Keep in mind that if you do wake up, you likely won’t feel any kind of pain and won’t even remember what happened when you’re in recovery. 

Expect to have at least minor pain after surgery. A doctor did use tools to make incisions somewhere on your body. Your doctor will likely prescribe medications to help with pain and even a few other issues that might arise during the recovery process, such as nausea or sleeplessness. Stay as clean as you can before your procedure and when you get home to prevent any kind of infection from setting up at the incision site or in other areas of your body. Try to move around as much as you can after surgery to prevent a blood clot from forming or traveling to your lungs. 

Talk about the medications that you’re taking to determine which ones you can safely take the day or surgery and which ones you should take when you get home. Try to have someone with you at home the same day of surgery. If you’re nervous about surgery, get a second opinion to find out if it’s the only option that you have.