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Diet, Medication and Health Issues | Before Procedure | Day of Procedure | Recovery
We ask that patients strictly follow our Diet Guidelines, unless otherwise instructed by their physician. Not following these guidelines could mean your procedure may be canceled or postponed, and the risks you take are higher than you might imagine.
Patients shouldn’t eat and drink prior to your procedure because when you’re under anesthetic, your body’s reflexes are temporarily stopped. If your stomach has food and drink in it, there are certain risks:
The clear liquid diet supplies fluids and energy from foods that require very little digestion. The clear liquids reduce bowel residue and provide fluids to ease thirst. These liquids also provide certain salts and minerals and prevent dehydration.
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Some medications or supplements, including herbal remedies, can increase the risk of bleeding before or after surgery, or effect the bodies ability to clot blood. It can take days to a couple of weeks for some of these medications and supplements to get out of your system.
Patients who have high blood sugar before undergoing surgery run an increased risk of dangerous complications, like developing a postoperative infection, blood clots, deep vein thrombosis and even pulmonary embolism.
High blood pressure puts you at risk for bleeding when undergoing surgery. Having high blood pressure is usually not a reason to postpone surgery unless a person is undergoing an elective major surgery and the blood pressure is poorly controlled, which means the systolic blood pressure is 180 mmHg or higher or the diastolic blood pressure is 110 mmHg or higher. In this case, deferring surgery may be considered. It is essential to follow your primary care physician’s instructions on which medications to continue and which to stop prior to your surgery.
If you are sick in the days leading up to surgery, be sure to tell your surgeon. This includes a cold, persistent cough, fever, rash, open wound, current infection or any other health-related problems. The nature of the surgery and the severity of the illness are often the deciding factors in whether or not surgery will be rescheduled. Only your surgeon can decide if your symptoms are severe enough to lead to the delay or cancelation of your surgery. If you are experiencing a minor illness in the week prior to surgery, or a moderate to severe illness in the two weeks before surgery, notify your surgeon immediately.
For the safety of our patients and their families, we request that any family or friends that accompany you are also in good health.
A Clinical Nurse Liaison (CNL) will attempt to contact you prior to your procedure complete the Patient Screening Process. The information the CNL collects will help your doctors be more equipped to properly care for you. Some of the items they will ask about include:
Yellowstone Surgery Center is not connected to the SCL Health or Physician Provider Office Computer Systems and do not have access to health information they have on file at these locations.
Start the Patient Screening Process by calling the CNL department at (406) 237-5948 between the hours of 8:00 am – 2:00 pm.
A pain medication agreement is a contract between a doctor and a patient. The goal of the agreement is to ensure that patients who are taking opioid drugs do so exactly as their doctor has prescribed. In theory, these agreements are not only designed to protect the patient from drug abuse, but they also protect the doctor in case the patient abuses the medication in some way.
This process is only necessary if it has been requested by your surgeon. When you are healthy your body has very good ways of fighting infection. When you come in for surgery, this first line of defence of fighting infection will be broken as a result of the surgical cut through your skin. When this happens there is a small chance that your normal germs, or germs from another person or the environment can get into your body and cause an infection.
Yellowstone Surgery Center works hard to prevent infections, but it is very important that you prep the skin with the Nose to Toes body wash as it will help reduce the amount of bacteria and germs on your skin, therefore reduce your risk of infection.
Most of our procedures do not require an overnight stay, however your physician may determine a longer stay is necessary. Our patients are required to be discharged within a 23 hour period.
It is never a good idea to drive yourself home from surgery, as anesthesia can slow reflexes, slow your thought processes, and can even cause amnesia in the hours following surgery. So while you may feel like yourself, your ability to drive and your judgment may be severely hampered.
If you are in an accident while driving after being told that you cannot drive for 24 hours after anesthesia, you can be charged with driving under the influence despite not drinking alcohol.
Anesthesia after-effects are only one of many reasons why you would need to avoid driving following a medical procedure. Others include:
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Electricity can travel to any metal on the body which is the reason why a grounding pad is used during surgery. However, to prevent the patient from receiving a “possible” burn from the current that comes from the electrocautery unit, it is good practice and safe practice to have jewelry removed before surgery.
The main reason why a patient should not wear contact lenses during surgery is because it can result in a corneal abrasion. A corneal abrasion is a scratch on the eye cornea which can be significantly painful. During surgery, you are given medications which can cause dry eyes. The combination of dry eyes and contact lenses can cause the scratch. Please remember to pack your glasses on surgery day.
Nail polish and acrylic nails can hinder the anesthesiologist and surgeon’s ability to monitor your well being during surgery. Since you cannot communicate with the doctors on how you are feeling, they will monitor the signs from your body to let them know. When you’re in surgery, you will have a probe placed on the end of your finger to read the oxygen level in your blood. This probe cannot read through artificial nails or nail polish. Also, if your oxygen levels do drop, your fingernails would turn blue; signaling it to the surgeon and the anesthesiologist, but this would be hidden by your nail polish.
Makeup can hinder the anesthesiologist and surgeon’s ability to monitor your well being during surgery. Since you cannot communicate with the doctors on how you are feeling, they will monitor the signs from your body to let them know. Face makeup can mask your true skin color, which is an easy signal to the anesthesiologist and the surgeon on how your body is handling the surgery. In addition, if the surgeon needs to put tape on your face or body, it may not stick to the make-up or cream on your skin. Also while you are under anesthesia, you don’t have a blink reflex so small particles of makeup (especially mascara) can injure your eyes.
Lotions, creams, or powders can make it hard for the operating room staff to stick monitoring devices to your skin. Why can’t I shave the surgery site prior to the procedure? Patients should leave shaving the area of their surgery to doctors, who can complete the task with sterilized clippers.
Shaving at home could damage the skin around the area, raising the risk of infection, while a blade that has not been sterilized also risks exposing the skin near the surgery site to harmful bacteria.
It is also suggested that patients have a shower, bath or bed bath the day before or on the day of surgery to ensure the skin around the incision site is as clean as possible. What sort of valuables should be left at home? Please leave jewelry, money (other than what is required for payment of the procedure), weapons at home in addition to other items you would not want lost or stolen.
If you are unable to make your appointment as scheduled, please contact our office promptly. This appointment will be rescheduled for patients requiring our services.
In the event an appointment is missed, and no attempt was made to cancel the appointment in advance, we reserve the right to charge a $50 fee. These fees are not covered by insurance and will be your personal responsibility.
For All Surgical Procedures:
For overnight cases in addition to the above:
Compression stockings are used after surgery to prevent blood clots developing in the leg, which is known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Your physician will advise you on how long you should wear compression stockings for after your operation and how to use them correctly. When compression stockings are recommended after surgery, they should usually be worn as much as possible, day and night, until you’re able to move around freely. They’re often recommended if it’s likely you’ll be unable to move around much after surgery, either due to the after-effects of surgery or having another medical condition that affects your mobility.
Surgical procedures are stressful on the body. As a result, they can cause unexpected side effects, including constipation. Constipation does not affect everyone who has surgery, but it is a relatively common side effect of pain medications, anesthesia, and a lack of mobility. As the body is likely to be more sensitive or prone to damage than usual, it is best to use gentle constipation relief, like stool softeners, after your procedure.
Speak with your physician prior to your procedure to see if a Cryo-Cuff will be given as a recovery and pain services tool. These devices are included in the cost of the procedure from Yellowstone Surgery Center. Even if you already own one, that cost will not be deducted from your procedure cost.
