The day of surgery

On the day of your surgery, you may brush your teeth and use mouthwash as long as you are careful not to swallow anything. Do not eat or drink anything unless otherwise instructed.

On arrival, please check in with the ward clerk. During your surgery, family members may wait in the hospital dining room or patient lounge and can check your progress with the ward staff.

Before your surgery, one of the nurses will check your details and take your temperature, pulse and blood pressure. Any questions or concerns you might have can be discussed at this point. Thereafter, you will change into your hospital gown and will be taken through to the operating theatre once the theatre team is ready for you.
When you get to the theatre, you will be introduced to the theatre staff who will once again verify your details. You will then be taken to the anaesthetic room where the anaesthetist will be waiting for you. An intravenous line will be inserted into your arm to administer fluids and medicines during the procedure.

You may find the temperature in the operating room a little cooler than elsewhere in the hospital and if you are uncomfortable, please notify the staff. You will be shifted onto the theatre table either before or after you have been anaesthetised.

If you are having a general anaesthetic, an oxygen mask will be placed over your nose and mouth. This may have a strange odour. Medicines which will help you drift off to ‘sleep’ almost immediately will be administered, either through the mask or the intravenous line. If you are having a spinal/epidural, regional or local anaesthetic, the anaesthetist will describe what you should be feeling as that part of your body is numbed.