Pre-op questions

I go for my pre-op on Tues, Oct 4. What questions should I ask, if any, that I may not have thought about?

Have you looked at our list of pre-op questions. You can find them here. Good luck with your appointment.

I am right behind you and Wed. Here are a few of mine:
How long will surgery take ?
Exactly what will be taken out ?
How long will I be in the hospital ?
Abdominal binder ?
Recovery time frame ?
How soon can I telework form home ?
When can I drive ?
I read the Checklist in the HysterSisters booklet and checked off the ones I want to ask. I want to bring the booklet in and also tell my doctor how much of a comfort and help the website was to me and if she'd pass on the info to other patients.

First I can't stress enough writing stuff down. I went in there and totally blanked out.

Details of exactly what they are going to do.
If they find things different than originally planned, how are they going to handle it.
Anesthesia... have you had it before? Some people get sick. If you do, can you get medicine for that.
Will you have a sedative before the surgery.
How long will you have the catheter for.

These were some big ones for me..

I guess everyone's pre-op is different because I had mine at the hospital on Friday. They pretty much did all the pre admission testing like, labs, ekg, chest x-ray, general health history,etc and wasn't there to answer specific questions. I was also given one of the lung thingy, (the kind that you blow to help get your lungs back to normal after surgery) and told to bring it back on my surgery day. Which makes completely no sense to me, LOL.

I met with my surgeon a few times for questions. I won't see her again until the surgery, October 7. I printed like 30 questions to ask, which included; what are her qualifications, how it would be handled if she need to remove something else; who would assist her, and most importantly, how will the pain be managed. On one of the female diagrams on the wall in her office, she showed my exactly what she would be removing and how.

My suggestion, write down questions as they come to you and then take the list with you.

I have two appts. I go to the Dr's in the morn on wed and do a pre op physical with her. Then I go over to the hospital right after and do a pre admission with them. The hospital is the one that usually gives me all my instructions.

Just waiting for the belly bandit and my pillow pet to arrive in the mail.

A couple of real busy days at work, wrap up the horse chores and off I go on friday. Its hinting at snow here. It'' be nice to lie in bed and watch it snow.

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Originally Posted by AKFlyer I have two appts. I go to the Dr's in the morn on wed and do a pre op physical with her. Then I go over to the hospital right after and do a pre admission with them. The hospital is the one that usually gives me all my instructions. Just waiting for the belly bandit and my pillow pet to arrive in the mail. A couple of real busy days at work, wrap up the horse chores and off I go on friday. Its hinting at snow here. It'' be nice to lie in bed and watch it snow.

AK, you're in Alaska? WOW.

Are you ready.....Not just Alaska....North Pole, Alaska!

Spent a couple of years up there myself. I miss the snow... I know, crazy. My DH is in Fairbanks today and Nome yesterday and I had to pack his stuff. It's always weird packing winter gear for him and it's 70 here. My fondest memories of AK were frost on the inside doorknob and moose in the backyard.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by UpInTheAir First I can't stress enough writing stuff down. I went in there and totally blanked out. Details of exactly what they are going to do. If they find things different than originally planned, how are they going to handle it. Anesthesia... have you had it before? Some people get sick. If you do, can you get medicine for that. Will you have a sedative before the surgery. How long will you have the catheter for. These were some big ones for me..

LOL, that blacking out is so true. When I asked my Dr to described what she was going to do, my brain waves started skipping, LOL

as the more detail stuff last