Day of Surgery

• You will arrive 90 min – 2 hrs before your surgical time

  • A day before the surgery, you will get a call from either the hospital or ambulatory surgical center to give you the instructions on when to arrive

• You will be taken to the pre-op holding area where you will meet your physician, anesthesiologist, and nurse to go over a few details

• An I. V. (intravenous) will be started and you will get fluid and various medications to prepare for the surgery

• For most of you, you will get spinal anesthesia as it leads to less nausea, less pain, and less complications compared to general anesthesia

• You will go to the operating room where you will meet a group of members who will be assisting the surgery (anesthesia nurse, surgical nurse, surgical tech, surgical assistant, physician, etc)

• The surgery itself takes approximately 1-3 hours but induction of anesthesia and waking up from anesthesia add another hour or so.

• After the surgery is concluded, you will then be transferred to the recovery room.

• Depending on how you do on the day of surgery, you might be able to go home on the same day. You should be able to pass a few tests before going home:

  • Pain is manageable on oral meds

  • Urinate on your own

  • Tolerate drinks and food

  • Pass physical therapy tests