Checklist: documents, tests, things to pack
- Passport and tax identification number
- An electronic referral from your family doctor
- Discharge summaries from previous treatment and operations
- Your signed declaration with a family doctor (registration with a GP)
- Full blood count and biochemistry
- Blood group and Rh factor
- Coagulation profile
- ECG and a physician's report
- A recent MRI or CT of the relevant part of the spine
- A chest X-ray
- A change of clothes, comfortable and loose
- Slippers with non-slip soles
- Toiletries and a towel
- Water
- A phone and a charger with a long cable
- A list of the medicines you take regularly
Medicines: what is stopped in advance
This is the most important item in the whole preparation, and it is the one most often overlooked.
Be sure to tell me or the anaesthetist if you take:
- blood thinners;
- anti-inflammatories and painkillers on a regular basis;
- hormonal medication;
- diabetes medication;
- medication for blood pressure and the heart;
- any herbal remedies and supplements - some of them affect clotting.
Abruptly stopping some drugs is more dangerous than the operation itself. The anaesthetist or I will set the schedule, and for different medicines the timing differs - from a day to a week.
The evening before and the morning of
- 1 A few days before Finish the tests and get the physician's report. If you catch a cold, run a temperature or a chronic condition flares up, say so at once - the operation will most likely be postponed.
- 2 The evening before A light supper. After a certain hour, nothing to eat or drink; the ward will tell you the exact time. A shower and, if needed, shaving the operative area - they will tell you about that too.
- 3 At night Try to sleep. If you cannot, say so; the anaesthetist will choose something, and you should not take anything yourself.
- 4 In the morning Nothing by mouth. Medicines only if the anaesthetist allowed them, with the least water possible. Remove jewellery, watches, contact lenses and removable dentures. It is better to take off nail polish: the colour of the nail bed is used to monitor blood oxygen.
- 5 Before the operation The anaesthetist and the surgeon will speak with you once more. It is normal for the same questions to be asked several times - that is how the checks work.
When an operation is postponed
A cold, a raised temperature, a flare-up of a chronic condition, outstanding tests, inflamed skin at the operation site. Postponing is neither a failure nor a lost place in the queue. Operating in the presence of infection means knowingly raising the risk of complications just to keep a date.
What next
What the anaesthesia will be and what determines the risk is covered in Anaesthesia for spinal surgery. How long the day of the operation and the hospital stay take is here.
