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Article Series: Cancer
Help Me Understand Cancer
How
To Prepare For Cancer Removal Surgery
There are several things you can do to maximize
your chance for a successful operation and minimize your risk
for complications.
1.
Ask your surgeon about your daily routines. Do you need
to change your eating or exercise habits before surgery?
Stop
smoking. Stopping smoking is very important to minimize
your risk of lung complications following surgery. Your doctor
can provide nicotine patches and refer you to smoking cessation
programs to help you quit.
2.
Ask about medications. Which medications do you need to
take prior to surgery? Which ones should you stop taking? If
you take a blood-thinning medication such as Coumadin, aspirin,
or Motrin, stop taking it at least seven days before your surgery.
Also, let your doctor know about any herbal preparations or
vitamin/mineral supplements you take. Some of them have been
associated with complications.
3.
Ask your doctor about taking home an incentive spirometer. This device is effective for improving breathing immediately
after surgery. No bigger than a bread-box, it is light and
mobile and has a plastic tube that you blow into. Take one
home and practice with it one week before your operation.
4.
Carefully follow your bowel prep instructions. Proper bowel
prep can minimize infection and maximize the success of your
surgery. Your surgeon should provide you with step-by-step
instructions. Two days prior to surgery, you'll need to begin
a liquid diet as directed by your doctor. The next step involves
drinking either a gallon of a lime-flavored purging liquid
or several tablespoons of Fleets Phosphosoda mixed with water.
In addition, your doctor will give you several antibiotic pills
to complete the bowel preparation process.
5.
Consider your own blood. Some people worry about receiving
tainted blood in a blood transfusion during or after surgery.
All donated blood is rigorously tested, so the risk of receiving
tainted blood is very low, less than 0.01 percent. However,
to alleviate this concern, you can donate your own blood weeks
in advance of the operation or have a relative with the same
blood type donate blood for you. By setting up your own (autologous)
blood or a relative's donated blood, the risk' of receiving
tainted blood drops to zero. Prior to your operation, ask your
surgeon about the chances of requiring a blood transfusion
and the feasibility of donating your own blood.
Operation Day
At the hospital on the morning of your operation, you'll be
asked to fill out several admission and registration forms.
Next you'll change into a hospital gown and enter the preoperative
holding area, the last stop before entering the operating room.
Loved ones will be able to stay with you in the holding area
right up to the time you go into the operating room. Here,
you'll meet the nurses and the anesthesiologist who will be
involved in your operation. Your surgeon may also come by to
see if you have any last-minute questions or concerns.
While you're in the preoperative holding area, an intravenous
(IV) line will be started in your arm, and your medical chart
will be examined for completeness. You will also be given antibiotics
through the IV. Just before you enter the operating room, the
anesthesiologist will give you an intravenous medicine to ease
any nervousness you may have. # # # # #
SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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