My Spine - Lumbar
Make sure that you understand when exactly you should stop eating and plan
your trip to the hospital so that you do not have to rush to the hospital on the
day of admission. Wear comfortable clothes and slip-on shoes and pack sleep-
wear and toiletries. Leave valuables at home, but your hearing apparatus,
spectacles and dentures should be taken along.
The operation
You will be allocated a time slot on the theatre list and this is usually an indi-
cation of what time you can expect to go to theatre. There are several practi-
cal and technical reasons why your operation time slot may be changed.
Sometimes an emergency case will cause a long delay and your operation
might even have to be cancelled. This is, however, not the norm.
At some stage following your admission, the nursing staff will notify you
when it is time for you to go to theatre. You will be taken to theatre on your
bed and will normally wait for a short while in a waiting area. You will then
be moved into the theatre. The anaesthetist will put up a drip to allow the
anaesthetic agents to be administered. It is typical that the medication will
cause a burning feeling in your arm as you are put to sleep. This is normal and
will quickly pass.
All vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, oxygen concentration of
the blood and many more parameters) will be measured for the full duration
of your operation. The number of parameters that are monitored is dependent
on your physical condition and whether you have certain risk factors.
Please see the specific chapters on procedures and operations for technical
data about the operation that your specialist is suggesting. It may be neces-
sary to have a blood transfusion during your operation. Whether a blood
transfusion is administered depends on the amount of blood-loss during the
operation as well as your physical condition and age.
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