Re: help !!! pre-surgery

[Guest guest]

Hi ! Sunny here. You will be fine with the fast. I had surgery

at 7:30 AM, had to get to the hospital at 6 AM, so very similar. I

have had to do this before -- fasting & no liquids after midnight --

for colonsocopies, so I knew it was not that big a deal. My first

time I, too, was very worried, more having to do with blood sugar

fluctuations and wondering if I would faint. Nope -- you might feel a

little out of it, but that's about it. And you'll be so focused on

getting to the hospital, and then on all the admitting procedures,

that you won't think about being thirsty or hungry at all that

morning. I'm with your other responder who says drink a lot of water

in the days beforehand, and then at around 11 PM the night before, or

whenever you go to bed. It will be good for you to be well-hydrated

before the surgery.

You WILL be extremely thirsty when you come OUT of surgery, even tho

you will probably be getting fluids by IV, and your throat and lips

may be very dry. If you are not nauseous the nurses should let you

have ice chips, which will feel like a life-saver. They may also let

you have lozenges if you bring them. And you will want chapstick or

an equivalent. I had the very funny experience in recovery of not

realizing for a while that I actually could move, so my husband and

daughter were feeding me ice chips (the recovery nurses, who were

wonderful, let them into recovery even tho we had been told ahead of

time that I wouldn't see them until I was moved to my room). Maybe it

was disorientation from coming out of the anesthesia. After a bit I

realized I could move myself. It was pretty humorous.

Coughing is definitely something to avoid if you can. Hopefully you

will be done with it in two weeks time. Again, lozenges, just in

case? You are familiar with deep relaxation breathing etc., right?

For the first week or so after surgery, whenever I felt like I might

cough (or sneeze, or had to clear my throat) I took a long, slow and

deep *exhale* (not inhale). It helped calm the reflex and I could

usually avoid it. In addition, keep a " cough pillow " handy. I asked

for this in the hospital after a friend mentioned it to me. It's just

a small pillow or something similar that you can hug into your

middle. The nurse actually " made " mine by taping up a large bedpad

into a pillow shape. I used it in the car going home too. If you

can't avoid a cough, or really really have to clear your throat, it

helps.

On the other hand, they probably WILL try to make you do a lot of

deep breathing. I just remembered this and I don't recall anybody

else mentioning it in post-op stories -- they gave me a little

plastic contraption that measures how deeply you are breathing -- you

breath in thru the mouthpiece -- and you are supposed to use it every

10 minutes while you are awake(!!). I think it was called a

spectrometer. You won't really feel like doing this, it's not exactly

painful but it is a bit uncomfortable (plus you really don't feel

like doing much of anything). But it's important to keep your lungs

clear to avoid pneumonia so if they tell you to do it, do it!

Main point is that you will be fine -- what you are concerned about

now are the little things. It's great that you have the big things --

selection of excellent doctor, etc. -- resolved so you can ruminate

on these little details! Soon you will be on the other side of it all.

Best to you.

Sunny

[Guest guest]

I did drink a little bit of water in the morning on the day of my myo (my

surgery was at about 3:30 p.m.), and I was fine. I had to drink the water

so I could take amoxycillin for the Strep throat I was diagnosed with a

week earlier. I was so busy the morning of my surgery (I was home with my

husband taking care of our 7-month-old, very energetic daughter) that I

didn't have much time to think about the lack of food or drink.

When I went into surgery, my throat was still a bit scratchy from the Strep

throat, so I was worried about what it would be like if I had to cough

after the operation. Luckily, I didn't find out, because I think coughing

definitely would have been painful.

Cheryl

At 11:18 AM 2/6/2004 -0600, wrote:

>Hi, i am so worried about this :

>1) nurse told me NO food or water after midnight the night before

>surgery, no mints, gum, or even a sip of water !! This has me worried

>since i am thirsty in the morning and could even gag from not drinking

>anything for that long. Surgery is at 7:00 AM. have to be at hospital at

>5:00.AM. Doc had nurse call to say NO gum or mints since that would even

>increase gastric secretions ? This has me more worried now than the

>surgery itself.!!!! Maybe i should practice trying to do this soon, when

>my cold is over, so i can know that i can do it , or NOT do it....?

>2) I have a slight cold and cough that i am recovering from. Has anyone

>gone into surgery with a lingering cough ? I hope it will be gone in 2

>weeks. Nurse said they will still operate as long as i have no fever.