No pre-op appointment before surgery... Weird?

Hello!

I have often seen Ladies in Waiting and Princesses refer to pre-op appointments and I'm wondering if everyone had/will be having one?

My surgery is going to be on Tuesday, March 19th, and I'm not scheduled to see the doctor prior to then. In fact, when I see him on the day of the surgery, it will have been a month since I last saw him.

I am scheduled to have some "blood type cross-matching" done at the hospital, the day before the surgery. Instead of waiting until a week from tomorrow to go, I may try to have it done on Friday instead. I've been told they shouldn't do cross-matching more than five days prior to the surgery.

Can any of you share with me exactly what is usually done at pre-op appointments?

Thanks!!

My pre-op is just getting some paperwork from my GYN and taking it to the hospital where they draw some blood and get the rest of the admissions paperwork in order. I also get my pretty little hospital bracelet. That is it.

JoAnn
TAH/BSO 3/13

Hi! :
I have not had an appointment at my gyn's office, either. I am scheduled for TVH and A&P (with full tummy tuck) on March 15th. I am scheduled to go tomorrow (Monday) to the Pre-Admissions dept. at the hospital for testing and things. If you are uncomfortable about not seeing your doc before the surgery, by all means, make an appointment this week. If you explain that you have surgery on Tues. and would like to speak with the doc, they WILL get you in. Good Luck to you, I will be thinking about you as I will be returning from the castle the day you are going in.-Lillith

appointment will consist of seeing the GYN who will be performing the surgery; going over the procedure, signing forms, getting post-op meds and post-op appointment information ~ as well as asking any questions! Then I will take the papers she gives me and leave her office. I will then have another appointment with the ASC (ambulatory surgical clinic aka day day surgery folks). But, before I can go to ASC, I have to stop at Lab and get type and cross done, cbc and pregnancy test (hahaha). Mandatory for every woman (if they still have uterus) before any surgery. Then after lab.. off to admissions to get all that taken care of. After all is done, off to ASC where they will talk to me, go over everything, give me some more papers and explain any pre-op preps that may need to be done. Won't know what time I will need to be at castle till afternoon before surgery (military hospital and they do it this way). This is sure a lot of running around I will need to do.. but ya know.. ah well.. keep thinking "no more periods"

Hi Fiona

My surgery was to be performed by a GYN ONC, so my first appt. with him was also my pre-op appt., and that was 6 weeks before surgery. During that visit, we discussed my options and I chose to have surgery, so my Dr. reviewed the surgical consent form with me line by line and had me sign that before leaving. He also gave me prescriptions to have blood work, an EKG, chest x-ray, and a pelvic CAT scan done. Not everybody has all of these tests done (my hyst was for a positivie diagnosis of cervical cancer) and I was 43 y/o.

Then I received a packet in the mail from his office about a week later with specific pre-op instructions, including type of bowel prep he wanted me to do. Again, not all Drs. require this.

When I went to the hospital to have my pre-admission testing done, they took all of my information and made up a chart, so that the day of surgery, at least that much would be done.

As you can see from reading all of these responses, Drs. differ in what they want pre-op, and you need to know what your Dr. wants you to do, if anything. I would give the office a call when they open and ask. That way you'll know for sure and can put your mind at ease.

Best wishes and s

I had an LAVH/BSO on Feb 14.
I did not have a Drs. appt pre op, but the hospital admitting nurse called me at home ( a pre scheduled phone call) for an extensive phone interview where she takes my medical history, what meds I'm on ect. She also answered all my questions about the hospital stay and things like that and what to expect during recovery and visitation rules. My Dr. came in to say hi to me while in the OR holding area and so did my anesthesiologists. I remember getting rolled into the OR and that was all...
I was due to start my period on the day of my surgery! The nurse says that seems to be a common experience!, That old uterus wants to speak one more time!
good luck and ask for pain medication at the slightest discomfort!

All my pre-op on Feb. 26th consisted of was signing the consent form.
OK the doctor did go through it all point by point. (My hyster was two days later, on the 28th.)

Quite a let down, after driving 100 km to the city the day before, spending the night on a couch at a friend's, worrying about what was going to happen, and facing a 100 km drive back home.

I had already asked all the pre-op questions (from this site) at an earlier appointment.

Hi Princess Fiona,

I am sure glad you asked this question. I asked the doctor last week about a pre-op appt. and he said, "you already had it". I sure was confused. They told me the hospital will be in contact with me prior to surgery. Nothing was said about any enemas or Fleets, etc. I have been so confused. Thank you to all who responded to Fionas question. It has helped me as well.

By the way, has anyone had an afternoon surgery? How do you handle the no meds, food or drink thing? I know it is usually nothing after midnight for an A.M. surgery. Same for afternoon?

God bless on your surgery date.

Thanks for sharing your experiences! It certainly seems like "pre-op appointment" can mean many different things, depending on the doc!

I made my trip to the castle yesterday and all they did was the blood type cross-matching. I'm still hoping/assuming that my DH and I will have a good opportunity to talk to the doctor a bit prior to my surgery on Tuesday. Not that there's anything that really needs to be discussed, at this point, but I think it would be nice to go over things.

Sharon, you asked about eating and meds when surgery is scheduled for the afternoon. While I don't have an answer for your question, I can tell you that my surgery is going to be some time Tuesday evening (I think after 7 pm), and I've been told not to eat anything after 11 am. I'm to be at the hospital, to be admitted, at 3 pm. I'm sure as your big day on April 9th draws nearer, the hospital and/or your doctor will tell you what to do.

Thanks again, everyone!

Hi there Princess Fiona

I also had no pre-op appointment. I had to show up at the castle 3 hours prior to my surgery and they did all the pre-op stuff then. I answered what seems to be my entire life history. Then was weighed, blood work, urin etc..

I would assume its the same thing. Just done all at once.


Take care
Michele