On the day of your surgery, you may be nervous about what you are going to experience, whether the surgery will be painful, whether the treatment will be successful, and so on. After reading this article, you will have a general idea of what to expect on the day of surgery and hopefully you will be able to relax and cooperate with your doctor.
What will I experience on the day of my surgery? How will I need to cooperate?
- On the day of surgery, you will wake up and have a gastrointestinal decompression tube placed in your nose with the assistance of your healthcare provider.
- Two hours before your procedure begins, your doctor will start an intravenous infusion of prophylactic antibiotics. If necessary, coronary dilation, antihypertensive, and heart rate lowering medications will be given as directed by your physician. If you have a combination of certain chronic conditions, you will need to take appropriate medications, such as antihypertensives and antiarrhythmics, but glucose-lowering medications will need to be administered under your physician’s supervision.
- You will then be escorted into the operating room by operating room staff. There, the nurse will first perform a security check, including personal information, information about the planned procedure and medications for previous co-morbidities, and then you will go through a venous/arterial puncture and leave an IV line/arterial blood pressure monitoring in place.
- Surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nursing physicians, among others, also gather at this time. After checking the information security of the procedure, the anesthesiologist begins to administer the “milky” intravenous anesthetic through the intravenous route, along with the mask inhalation anesthetic to induce general anesthesia. After confirming the success of the anesthesia, the anesthesiologist will intubate you through the oral cavity and then connect a ventilator for mechanical ventilation support. The entire medical staff will position you for surgery, and the surgeon will begin skin disinfection and sterile surgical towels in preparation for the esophagectomy reconstruction procedure.
- You will be under general anesthesia throughout the procedure and will not feel any discomfort.
- After the procedure, the anesthesiologist will apply medication to gradually wake you up from general anesthesia. After making sure that voluntary breathing is nearly complete and oral secretions have been cleared, the anesthesiologist removes the tracheal tube and you return to normal breathing. At this point, you will need to remain in the recovery room for a period of time while the provider determines your recovery status by monitoring your vital signs and blood tests.
- When you are back to normal, you will be transferred back to the general ward. In collaboration with your family, you will be transferred to a bed and continue to have your vital signs monitored and your systemic lines checked. Your surgeon will order intravenous rehydration fluids and add medications to promote phlegm, suppress stomach acid, and preventative antibiotics.
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Family members should stay by the bedside at this time and report any discomfort, such as fatigue or pain, to the medical staff so that further appropriate care can be given.
What should family members do?
Family members play a very important role in the patient’s preoperative preparation and postoperative management and can contribute as much as the provider to the outcome. A good patient’s family should assist the physician and follow through with medical advice.
The surgeon will provide pre-surgical health education to you and your loved one in the bed before surgery, informing you of the purpose and necessity of the surgery, the intraoperative procedures, and the post-operative rehabilitation plan, so that you and the patient fully understand the condition and cooperate with the surgery, reducing post-operative psychological stress for you and also reducing the risk of post-operative complications.
As a family member, you need to do the following:
- Help your ill loved one understand, from admission to preoperative preparation, what to expect. If you feel there is a lot of information, it is recommended that you write it down with a pen or audio recording. You can also get the information you want to know from the hospital’s patient education materials to help your loved one sort through the information and highlight the key points. That said, you personally should first familiarize yourself with the process of preparing for esophageal surgery.
- Review your loved one’s past personal habits, medical conditions, surgical conditions, and drug allergies and present them to the surgeon in a way that allows for more appropriate preoperative decision making and response planning.
- Postoperative psychological and physical changes may take some time to adjust to, and the family should create a positive environment and atmosphere for the patient to help manage the patient’s rehabilitation exercises and work schedule, hospitality plans for visitors, and doctor-patient communication during postoperative complications to help him/her get through the “hard times” after surgery.
- Help your loved one gain a better understanding of esophageal surgery and prepare psychologically and physically for the procedure and the possible outcomes. When your loved one seeks psychological support, you are expected to be fully supportive and ensure that he or she has a positive mindset to fight the disease together. Family members can give more comfort, understanding and support to distract the patient than the medical staff, as well as prepare the knowledge and material reserves related to postoperative rehabilitation exercises, post-discharge precautions, and family nutritional support.
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