Final Preparation for Surgery

• Go to the admitting office at the hospital three hours before your surgery “start” time.  The hospital staff will guide you from that point.
• Do not eat or drink anything after midnight on the evening before surgery.  Also, please eat very lightly on the day before your surgery – if you wish to have a big “last meal” before the operation, please do so at least 72 hours before surgery.  The idea is that your stomach must be empty at the time you go under anesthesia, and the less “stuff” you have in your intestines the easier (=safer) your surgery will be.
• A bowel prep (cleanout) is not required prior to surgery.
• We do not require the use of any special antibacterial showers or baths before surgery – follow your usual routine.
• Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing.
• Leave jewelry and other valuables at home so they can’t be misplaced in the hospital.
• Contact lenses cannot be worn during surgery.
• If you use a CPAP machine, it will be very important to use it whenever you sleep for the first weeks after surgery.  We won’t need your CPAP during surgery or in the Recovery Room, but please arrange to have the machine easily available for use beginning on the night of surgery.

Medications

• Do not take aspirin for at least one week before surgery.  If you take Motrin, Advil, Naprosyn, or similar pain medications, avoid these for at least three days before surgery.  Tylenol is OK.
• If you take insulin or other medications for diabetes, your surgeon will discuss specific instructions with you.
• Except for the above, take your usual morning medicines on the morning of surgery, using sips of water to wash them down.
• Stop taking any herbal remedies one week before surgery

Things to bring to the Hospital

These items are not required, but previous patients have passed along these suggestions:

• a small fan (room temperature control can be variable)
• water spray bottle - can help with the feeling of cotton mouth
• comfortable PJ’s – don’t bring anything fancy because some of your incisions may leak fluid.  Hospital gowns will (of course) be available but most people are more comfortable in their own clothes.
• reading material
• portable music
• other comfort items – special pillows, blankets, or stuffed animals are all accepted

• Not food.  Seriously.  Most patients recover best and feel the best if they don’t eat.  By the time you regain an appetite, you will also be “mobile” – you can go to the grocery store and pick some foods (following the diet guide) that suit you.
• Zero-calorie liquids – it will be necessary to drink small amounts almost constantly to maintain your hydration, beginning very soon after surgery.  Plain water can become very tiresome, so have a supply of other options available such as:  Crystal light, sugar-free Kool-Aid, sugar-free popsicles, or sugar-free iced tea.
• Chewable vitamins – our instructions will be to take one multivitamin with Iron twice per day, forever.  This regimen begins at the time you arrive home.  Most patients find it is easiest to begin with chewable vitamins such as Flintstones, but we don’t really care about the brand.  In the long run you will be able to take standard vitamin tablets, but this is usually several months down the road.
• Supplemental Calcium – our instructions will be to take supplemental calcium three times every day, for life.  We usually recommend TUMS as a Calcium source for the first several months after surgery, because they are chewable.  At 2-3 months after surgery we will recommend transition to Calcium citrate, which is better absorbed but is a little harder to take.

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