The Day of Your Surgery: Before Your Operation

General Instructions

• Do not eat or drink anything…including water
• Take your regular medicines only as instructed by your anesthesiologist in your preoperative visit.
• When you arrive at the hospital, go to the Patient Access Department (Registration), located in the hospital lobby on the ground floor. You will then be directed on where to go by the Patient Access staff.

What to Expect In the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC)

• Tell your nurse if you have any allergies, particularly to seafood or iodine (the skin cleanser used prior to the surgery contains iodine).
• Put on a hospital gown. It is the only thing you can wear to the operating room
• Make sure you are not wearing anything that can come off during surgery, such as dentures or partial plates; eyeglasses or contact lenses; jewelry; wigs; any removable prosthesis, such as an artificial eye or leg.
• Go to the bathroom and empty your bladder
• A nurse will take your vital signs (pulse, respiration, blood pressure and temperature, and pulse oximetry (oxygen level in the blood)) and review your medical history.
• An IV (intravenous tube placed in a vein in your arm) with saline solution will be started.
• You will be helped onto a stretcher and transferred to the Holding Area. 
• Your family may wait in one of our surgical waiting areas. Your physician will talk with them there after the surgery.

What to Expect in the Holding Area

• Staff will confirm your identification using your ID bracelet.
• From the Holding Area, you will then be transferred to the operating room (OR).  

What to Expect In the Operating Room (OR)

• ·      The staff in the OR will be wearing uniforms, masks, and caps to protect you from infection. 
• The OR team will help you to move to the operating room bed. Your arms and legs will be gently secured for your safety.
• If you feel cold, ask for a blanket.
• An anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist will monitor you during your anesthesia
• A blood pressure cuff will be put on your arm.
• An EKG machine will monitor your heart rate.
• Medications will be given through your IV to make you sleep.
• While you are sleeping, a tube will be put in your throat to help you breathe.
• Your skin will be scrubbed with a special soap called Betadine. This skin preparation will reduce your chance of getting an infection. The reddish color will wash away without staining your skin.
• A Foley catheter will be inserted.
• When the procedure is over, you will be moved to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) or recovery room.
• You may have had a jejunostomy tube inserted after your surgery. This tube may be permanent or temporary