pre-OP appointment

Have I mentioned that when I go to my RE's office from work I have to drive by the 3 Maternity ward signs at the hospital? Half the time I don't notice, but some days they almost make me cry. Yesterday was one of those days.

Anyway, most of the pre-OP covered stuff I've already learned through message boards & blogs. My RE did tell me that she wants me to do a bowel prep beforehand. Not everyone has to do this for Lap surgery, just those where there is a likelier possibility of severe endo. The bowel prep will reduce the chance of injury if endo needs to be removed from the intestine area. So...in addition to no food or water from midnight until my 2:30 surgery, I get a liquid diet from lunch onward the day before. Sadly, I doubt that includes martinis. Awesome.

The day of surgery I will need to show up one hour prior to the procedure. Some time between now and then the anesthesiologist (I spelled that right on the first try...aren't you impressed?) will call me and go over medical history. I will be intubated, but I made sure to ask, and everything goes in and comes out while I am under (except for the IV of course). The surgery itself should take about 1.5 hrs, and recovery/waking up is about the same time. I also asked what I'll know before leaving and she said they will tell us everything they find while I'm in recovery. I most likely won't remember any of it, so I will be sure to make R write it down. The RE gave me a script for Percocet, but she said she has had some patients that never need them, so I should take advil and wait until I really need the hard stuff. Yeah....I'll happily be popping the percs that first day thank you very much.

One last thing, after we left I looked over my paperwork and it specifically says no nail polish. I've heard this before, but does anyone know why you can't have nail polish on during surgery?