preop bowel prep? my doc said nothing

does it vary surgery to surgery? I'm having a TVAH tomorrow, and no one has said anything to me about bowel prep, but I keep reading posts about them.

Is is something they overlooked and forgot to tell me?
Should I do this as a precaution? Is it too late for me to do a bowel prep?

Oh all these questions are racing through my mind now, please help

Maybe it's different for different surgeries. I'm having a TAH and the doc said to prep my bowel so they can prepare for the absolute worst. (Yay for doomsdayers) I was informed that it is precautionary, really. If they wanted you to do it, though, I'm pretty certain they would have told you about it. I could be wrong of course, I so often am, but I wouldn't think they'd skip over that sort of thing if it were necessary.

I had a tah/bso in January of this year and no bowel prep. I was very happy about it to say the least. Some do and some don't. I counted myself as one of the lucky ones. Good luck.

I had a TVH and didn't have to do a bowel prep. If your doctor didn't tell you to do one, please don't. You could find yourself dehydrated and your surgery canceled.

Best wishes!

s, Deb

I had a TVH and no bowel prep. You might consider calling your doctor RIGHT NOW for some additional peace of mind, but if they wanted bowel prep it would most likely be on the pre-admission paperwork from the hospital, and the doctor would have mentioned it. Just PLEASE dont do any bowel prep without your doctor's ok - that is DANGEROUS. My vote is to call tonight for peace of mind. The good thing about GYNs is that they generally have answering services!

Good luck, and keep us posted... OK?

I am glad others didn't have to have a bowel prep, not that I would or wouldn't mind, I just thought maybe my doctor had forgotten to tell me! What a scary feeling.

Thankyou everyone for such quick replies, you really helped ease my mind.

Hi,
Just out of curiosity, why doesn't everyone need a bowel prep for their surgery? "Cathnclan" good luck with your surgery tomorrow & I wish you a speedy recovery.

Did your doctor say anything about no food or water after midnight? That was all that my doctor told me to do.

Good luck tomorrow woman... You will be in my thoughts and my prayers!

Mori, I believe it is because we are all having (or had) different surgeries... and each doctor has different preferences.

Agred with spasmo. it's probaly just the doctor's preference. Like I said earlier. My doc is a doomsdayer. I like that. He prepares for the worst and hopes for the best. I'm a lot like that too, so we get on just peachy keen. He's going as far as having the urologist place stents on my ureters just to prevent one from being nicked. As much as I abhor the very idea of bowel prep, the extra attention to detail helps to ease my mind so much.