Question About Outpatient for DaVinci Method

Hi There,
I'm brand new to this forum and my hysterectomy's scheduled for next Mon. the 25th. It'll be the DaVinci method, and they're leaving my ovaries. My Dr. said it's outpatient, and I can expect to go home the same day. However, I see on this site that it seems many people stay in the hospital at least overnight. Is it common these days to go home the same day of the DaVinci procedure? I'm just a little worried about pain management and post-anesthesia issues.

SO glad to have found this site! I've already learned that my incessant nesting the last couple of weeks is normal, and I have new friends who will help me celebrate the last visit of "Aunt Flo".

Mine was considered outpatient because it was 23 hour hold. My surgery was early morning, and I stayed until the following afternoon. I was on IV pain meds until the following morning. I'm surprised they aren't keeping you overnight.

happydancin

As long as you are released prior to being in the hospital for 24 hours from when they took you to your room it is considered same day surgery. So even though I was im the hospital overnight I was released before 2pm the next day so lessthan 24 hours in the hospital.

Check with your dr some surgeons do send patients home a few hours after they get out of recovery.

:hearthugs:

Yes Mine is considered an outpatient with the 23 hour hold. I did not find that out until my pre op. because I asked my dr just to let me have an over night because my ride home is 25 mins long.

My experience was very similar to what the ladies described above. Surgery was at 7:30 am and I was released the next day around 1pm. I had my ovaries and a large cyst removed too and also had extensive endometriosis problems so my surgery was over 5 hours. They basically want you off oxygen, able to take a little walk, pee and eat something small. I will say that it sounds like there is a lot less pain after the robotic method from what I've heard from others. I never really had true pain, just soreness. The biggest problem most people seem to have is the gas pain from the CO2. Good luck!

When I had my surgery I stayed over night because I lived 2 hours away so if anything went wrong I would be right there. But if I lived in Nashville she would have let me go home. Every doctor is different.

Thank you Friends! I live about 30 min. away from the hospital in a rural area, and down a very curvy mountain road. I think I would feel more comfortable with the 23 hour hold, even tho I know my hubby would take very good care of me. I'll speak to the Dr. during my pre-op on Friday.

Oh my! I must have been a sissy!! I stayed over night 2 nights. lol

It sometimes really depends on your Dr. as well. My Dr. kept me overnight. When I was at the hospital for pre-op the anesthesia lady informed me that my Dr. was the only Dr. who kept their patients overnight. I'm so happy I stayed overnight. I had a 12:30 surgery that took 4 hrs. I wasn't into my room until 6pm. I was really really out of it and there was no way my husband and I could of handled me being home that night. I started bleeding during the middle of the night and had to have the nurses clean me and check my bleeding every few hrs. I also live 30mins away from home and the ride home was really hard. About half way home I just wanted to cry from the bumps and the car stopping.
Let your Dr. know about your concerns about living so far from the hospital. Hopefully they can put you on a 23 hr hold. Good Luck

Technically, I was a "same day" release because I was discharged 23.5 hours after surgery began... nevermind that I did not actually leave my hospital bed for another 2 hours after that
Originally, I had been scheduled for a 5am check in and if I'd actually been on that timetable, I might have been back in my own bed by ten that night because I was up, eating, drinking, farting and peeing within 6 hours after I woke up and I had a great support system in place but, I got re-scheduled for mid-day (one day earlier but several hours later in the day), and nobody saw any reason to send me off in the middle of the night.

Some of the differences have to do with coding and billing- anything that involves less than 24 hours is thought of as "outpatient" for billing purposes...and some places begin that clock when you check in, others begin the clock either when you enter the OR or when the surgery is over.... I gave up trying to understand it, I just trusted my insurance lady when she assured me that I was good to go and that, if complications came up, it would still be ok as far as pre-certification goes.