BEFORE SURGERY

Night before surgery:

You will be provided information about fasting prior to surgery. This means nothing to eat or drink leading up to surgery and is necessary for your safety during surgery. Do NOT eat or drink ANYTHING after midnight the night before surgery. This includes chewing gum. If you eat or drink, your surgery will likely be cancelled for your own safety! You can take your required medications (unless instructed otherwise) with a small sip of water only. Further details specific to you will be provided to you a few days before your elective surgery.

Day of Surgery:

Shower or bathe with an antiseptic soap such as Chlorhexadine on the morning before surgery or the night before. Not both. This can be purchased at any pharmacy. This helps decrease your risk of infection.
You can wash your entire body with this soap at the end of your shower/bath. Please use any other products such as shampoo/conditioner first. Rinse thoroughly.
Please remove nail polish before the day of surgery. Only Gel nails within one 1 week with no chips can remain on.
Please do NOT shave, wax or use hair removal creams on the surgical leg for the 2 days prior to surgery

Do NOT wear make up and please leave jewelry and valuables at home.

You will be given a time to arrive but keep in mind this is an estimate. The entire team works to stay on schedule but we strive to give every patient the best care and this may change the schedule at times. Please be understanding of these time delays.

Please also be aware that due to constraints in our healthcare system, staff shortages or emergency cases, you may have your surgery cancelled close to or on the day off. This is a rare occurrence that we aim to avoid at all costs but there are occasions where this is unavoidable. Thank you for your understanding. If this occurs, we will expedite your re-booking as soon as we can.

Anesthesia:

You will meet with the anesthetist on the day of surgery and you will decide together the best anesthetic option for you with input from Dr. Roberts as needed. If you have medical conditions of concern, you may be contacted by an anesthetist in the days or weeks preceding surgery to discuss options further. The options in brief are outlined here:

General Anesthesia – a “GA” involves medication through an IV to “put you to sleep” for the duration of surgery. The anesthesia team makes sure you are breathing appropriately and a breathing tube is needed to support this.

Spinal Anesthesia– freezing medicine is placed with a needle in your back to numb you from the waist down for the duration of surgery. This can take a few hours to wear off before you can go home.

Regional anesthesia – before surgery, you may be offered a “nerve block” to provide pain relief after surgery for upwards of 24 hours. This involves an injection behind your knee or ankle to numb the site.

Sedation – depending on your surgery, you may need some “relaxing medication” in addition to the freezing options above. You can often sleep through the whole surgery and often don’t remember much from the surgery.