What to Know About Surgery

You will typically around 2 hours prior to your surgery time. Please wear loose fitting clothes or clothes you can change out of easily as your will change into a gown for surgery. Please don’t bring any expensive or valuable items. You will first meet the pre-op nurse who will get you ready for surgery including starting an IV and discussing certain questions with you. You will also meet your anesthesiologist that day to discuss the type of anesthesia you will be given and also if a nerve block will be performed or not. We commonly use nerve blocks to help with pain after surgery. Dr. Marshall will meet with you prior to surgery as well to discuss any final questions or issues.

You will typically spend at least 30 minutes in the recovery room after surgery to wake up completely from the surgery. What was performed during surgery will be discussed with you and your family after surgery, but often times due to the anesthesia you may forget this, so it is discussed in clinic again at your first visit. There will be written instructions for you to go home with and your nurse will discuss these with you as well. Typically, if you had a nerve block, this will wear off by the evening or the next morning. You will need to have someone with you to drive you home if your surgery is outpatient.

It is common to have swelling and bruising after surgery and this may not become apparent until even 2 days after surgery. You may also have swelling in your hands if you had shoulder or elbow surgery or your feet if you had knee or hip surgery as swelling follows the flow of gravity. It will be important to ice and follow your post-operative instructions about how much activity your can do.