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Home > Chronic and Serious Illness > Participating in Treatment Preparing Yourself for Surgery Your fate is not entirely in the hands of the surgeon and the medical staff. There are things you can do before surgery to help the healing process, minimize trauma and discomfort, and recover faster. We suggest you begin by reading Experiencing Medical Procedures as Healing Adventures. Before consenting to any treatment or diagnostic procedures, especially ones that carry significant risk or cost, get a second opinion. That advice is doubled when considering surgery. In fact, most health insurance plans now require it before elective surgery. Your second opinion should be from a surgeon not associated with or recommended by the first surgeon. You may also want to consult a non-surgeon to see if there are realistic alternatives. When you put yourself into the hands of an anesthesiologist, you are counting on him or her to take care of you when you are unconscious and some level of fear is reasonable. But you don't want to go into the operating room unsure if you're doing the right thing and not trusting the surgeon. After all, this is your operation and you are entitled to receive the information and support you need to assure yourself that you will be in good hands.. There is almost never a situation in which you don't have time to ask questions (see What to Ask Your Doctor). Because too much anxiety causes tension and tension increases pain, it is important to find ways to help yourself relax. If you have a favorite relaxation exercise, use it. If you do not, learn a relaxation exercise and practice it ahead of time. In Imagery to Help You Find and Reach Your Goals you can learn about the value of imagery and relaxation techniques and can even take a class on Breathing Essentials and Easy Relaxation Techniques. You will also find your relaxation exercise helpful during brief procedures such as having blood drawn or when an IV is being set up. In addition to this material, I highly recommend the pre-surgery tape by Belleruth Naparstek, which you can purchase from her website at HealthJourneys. In research studies comparing her tape with others, hers came out far ahead in relieving discomfort and speeding recovery.. Also, there is a video called "Gentle Visions" in which images of nature and gentle music are woven beautifully into a preoperative relaxation video to help alleviate the fear and anxiety patients often experience when anticipating surgery. Patients who use this before an operation can then recall those images if they feel stress before or after surgery, helping them access their own healing powers. You can order this video for $29.95 from Healing Images, P. O. Box 172, Westminster, VT 05158, 802-722-3410. Studies now show that general anesthesia does not completely shut off your brain during an operation. Anesthetized patients are sometimes aware of speech and sounds around them, even though they usually won't remember later what they heard. This is why it's important to ask the surgical team to be careful about what they say and to only talk about positive outcomes. It might be detrimental to your recovery if the doctors started talking about a new litter of puppies and in referring to the smallest one made a comment saying, "Well, I don't think she's going to make it"—and you assume they are referring to you! Listening to soothing music before, during and after surgery will help you require less sedating and reduce stress hormones in the blood. Select something that feels particularly comforting. Ask the surgeon if it is possible to have a tape in the operating room. Increasingly that is becoming possible in hospitals across the country. One of the most common types of complications after surgery is lung and breathing problems. How can you help prepare yourself so that your lungs will remain clear and you will have less chance to develop these problems? Become as physically fit as possible. Start by stopping smoking, of course. Take walks to improve your circulation. Eat nutritious foods. To counter the worry that can rob you of needed sleep, read and use an imagery exercise Learning How to Sleep Peacefully. We are attached to our bodies with more than muscles and tendons. While another body may appear stronger and more "beautiful" than ours, over the years we've developed a strong connection with all the parts that make up the body that carries us from place to place. So it's not surprising that after an operation that leaves visible scars, such as mastectomies and the amputation of a limb, you may find yourself mourning something you considering essential to your identity. The words of others that "you've better off without that cancer" or "who need a gall bladder anyway" may only partly assuage your unease. The missing piece (even if it is something that is inside and not visible, like an ovary, bladder, or colon) has a meaning for us. So we suggest you read an article in The Journey of Neurophysiology online magazine called Surgery and Loss of Body Parts, by Peter Maguire and Colin Murray Parkes. It explores these issues for doctors and may give you an idea of the importance of discussing your loss with someone, perhaps a therapist who deals with life-threatening illness and grief. Ask friends and family to sent you love, positive thoughts, prayer and healing energy before, during and after surgery. Based on evidence for the power of prayer reported in the Southern Medical Journal [1988, 81 (7), 826-829], there is reason to believe these good thoughts can help—as strange as that may seem to the skeptical scientific mind. At the very least, you will feel supported, which is healing in itself. You may want to read an imagery script, Family and Friends Surround You With Love to help you reinforce the love and care that others have for you. Consider the possibility of storing your own blood two weeks before surgery so it can be returned to you if needed. Well, maybe you can't get a guided tour of the operating room, but do become familiar with the hospital, the intensive care unit, the staff and the procedures to be followed. This will greatly help you prepare for the operation emotionally. Talk with several people who have had the operation you need. (Make sure they're the kind who can be positive and helpful; not the kind who will insist on repeating horror stories that can frighten you unnecessarily.) Ask them what they wish they had known before they had the surgery and what they suggest you could do to make the procedure easier. © Copyright 1998, Revised
2002, Arlene
F. Harder, MA, MFT
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First,
Remember That You're Not Powerless
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