Learn more about what to expect pre-op and post-op from the expert surgeons at Surgical Associates of North Texas.
Pre-Operative Information
At your initial patient consultation, Dr. deVilleneuve will give his recommendation for surgery. Then Gina, our surgery scheduler, will verify your benefits and discuss preferred dates for surgery that are convenient for the patient’s schedule. Once the surgery has been scheduled, you will be given or emailed a paper with all your surgery information on it, including date, facility location, arrival time, and surgery time. If any pre-operative testing is needed, a date, time and place for a pre-operative appointment will be included on this paper as well.
Some general pre-operative instructions are:
- Do not eat, drink, or chew gum after midnight the night before surgery.
- Do not take Aspirin, Advil, Aleve, or Ibuprofen for 7 days before surgery. Tylenol is ok to continue.
- Do not take Vitamin E or any herbal supplements for 7 days before surgery.
- Do not drink alcohol for 24 hours before surgery.
- Do not take any medications the morning of surgery, except blood pressure medicine. If you usually take blood pressure medicine in the morning, please take it with a sip of water the morning of surgery.
- If you take a blood thinner medication, please call our office for instructions.
After surgery, you will need someone to drive you home, as it is unsafe to drive after having anesthesia.
Post-Operative Information
Patients should not drive the day of surgery, as it is unsafe to drive after having anesthesia. Post-operative medications will be available at your pharmacy (which you provided in your paperwork at our office) after surgery. In general, patients are prescribed one medication for pain and one for nausea. If additional prescriptions are necessary, the surgeon will inform you after surgery.
Patients are given a paper with post-operative instructions when leaving the surgical facility, but here is another resource to help answer questions about your post-op care. Please click on the links below for specific instructions for your surgery.
- Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernia Repair
- Laparoscopic Hernia Repair (Ventral, Umbilical, Incisional)
- Excision of Subcutaneous Mass
- Excision of Pilonidal Cyst- Drain Care
Our patients have the option between a post-operative phone call or scheduling a post-operative appointment with our physician assistant, Jennifer Sommers. If everything is going well and you do not have any concerns or questions, you may call our office about 10-14 days after surgery and do a post-op phone call. If you would like to be seen, have questions or concerns that you would like to discuss, you may schedule an appointment with Jennifer. Please call our office to schedule an appointment for about 2 weeks after surgery or on specific day directed by the surgeon.
