THE DAY OF YOUR SURGERY
SURGERY START TIME AND YOUR ARRIVAL
Please arrange to be in the hospital two to three hours before your scheduled surgery start, unless you have been asked to do otherwise. You will be given an exact arrival time by the hospital when you receive a call the day before.
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For outpatient procedures, you may be asked to arrive closer to the planned surgery start time.
With this in mind, please be sure that the hospital was given your contact number when you came for your prescreening visit, especially if it will be your mobile phone while you are away from home.
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WHAT CAN I EAT OR DRINK AHEAD OF SURGERY?
Remember to have nothing to eat or drink from midnight before your surgery, except for any necessary medicines with only a sip of water (pain pills, or other medicines that you have specifically been asked to take such as blood pressure medications).
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE PREOPERATIVE AREA?
Dr. Ohaegbulam will meet you in the preoperative area, review the plans for surgery with you, confirm your consent for surgery and place his initials on your skin near the area of planned surgery -as required by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and by the Hospital. This is intended to ensure that you do not get an operation that you were not intended to have.
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You will meet with your anesthesia and nursing teams. If any nerve/spinal cord monitoring is planned for your operation, you will meet the technologist as well.
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You may be given some medication prior to going into the operating room, including antibiotics and occasionally some mild sedation.