-
Apply the numbing cream to
the IV site before going to the hospital. Make sure to talk to
your surgeon or the anesthesiologist ahead of time about how and
when to do this.
-
For patients with long hair,
part the hair along the scar line and braid the hair away from the
scar so surgeons have a clear and clean area to work.
Talk to your surgeon if you have questions about this. It's
easy to do in the pre-op room if you want to wait until after
talking to the doctor. Trust me, it's the latest trend in
surgical hair styling ☺
-
Get to the hospital early.
You'll probably be waiting a long time whether you get
there early or on time, but for your own sanity, it's better to get
there without having to rush. You'll need the time to fill out
all those forms and get your snazzy hospital bracelet and
everything.
-
Make sure your hospital
bracelet is accurate. If they spelled your name
wrong, forgot to include any allergies, or got your DOB off by even
a day, make sure they fix it. It's important that your only
piece of hospital bling be accurate before surgery.
-
Distract yourself.
A lot of pre-op rooms are equipped with distractions like TVs and
VCRs. If those aren't available, make sure you bring a good
book or some magazines. Sometimes the wait can be way too long
and just sitting there in that awful hospital "gown" will get old
very fast.
-
Remind the anesthesiologist
and nurses of any past negative reactions to anesthesia.
There are a ton of options these days, so if you've had bad
experiences with particular medications just let them know and
chances are, they can find you something that is just as effective
as a substitute. I used to start bawling uncontrollably
whenever I got a particular medicine put into my I.V. Once I
started telling them about this, they switched medicines and the
pre-surgery hormonal bawling sessions stopped.
-
Go to sleep.
It's interesting that the dreaded operation part is the
part that we stress over the most, because you're not actually
conscious for any of it. When the time comes, you simply go to
sleep, then you wake up! The period of time right before an
operation can be absolutely awful, I know. You're mom is
crying, you're crying, the nurse is trying to find a vein to put the
IV in, you're hungry, random people walk around with blue masks as
if they're trying to hide their identity, and that awful hospital
gown you have to wear is an unacceptable piece of cloth no one can
justifiably call clothing! It's tough, no doubt about it.
The good thing is that this part of the procedure is the shortest of
all. Just trust God, He'll take care of
everything while you're asleep, don't worry. Before you know
it, you'll wake up!
-
Parents: relax. The actual operation can be
really hard for parents since they're fully awake and have all the
energy in the world to spend on worrying. Stay near a
phone, because they may give you hourly updates, but try to
occupy yourself by doing something other than
sitting around worrying (my friend's mom made sushi while her
daughter had the RED surgery). Take comfort in the fact that
God is in the operating room with your baby.
-
Once the surgery's over,
just wake up! Now the fun starts! Don't worry
about this part, when it happens, it happens. You already know
the drill from all your past surgeries, so there's no need to go
over all that right now. Just remember, you're stronger than
you realize and you can handle whatever comes at you.
|
