Preparing For Surgery
To help you prepare for surgery , your doctor may have you :
� Get a Medical Checkup . Have a thorough exam before surgery by your primary care doctor . Your surgeon may require “ medical clearance ” from your medical doctor before you have surgery .
� Have Pre-operative Testing . Your surgeon may want you to have lab work , an EKG , pulmonary function tests , or other testing done before your surgery . You may need to see a cardiologist to okay you for surgery . It is important for you to get this done promptly to give your surgeon time to review the results before your surgery .
Medications
Tell your surgeon about all the medications you take , and ask whether you should stop taking them . This includes prescription medications , aspirin , over-the-counter drugs , vitamins , and herbal supplements .
� If you are taking Coumadin ® , Plavix ® , or any other type of medication that may thin your blood , check with your surgeon about how long to stop taking it before surgery . If these medications are not stopped for the length of time needed , surgery will need to be rescheduled .
� One week before your surgery , stop taking aspirin or aspirin-containing products such as buffered aspirin , Bufferin ® , regular Anacin ® , Fiorinal ® , codeine with aspirin , and all Alka-Seltzer ® products .
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� Also stop taking all nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medications such as Advil ® , Motrin ® , Indocin ® , Naprosyn ® , Clinoril ® , and Feldene ® . All of these medications can thin your blood , which can cause more bleeding during surgery .
If you need pain medication during this time , you may take Tylenol ® , Panadol ® , Vicodin ® , or Tylenol ® with codeine .
Be sure to talk to your surgeon before you start or stop taking any medication .
Quitting Smoking
Quitting smoking is the single most important thing you can do to improve your overall health .
If you smoke , do your best to quit now . Smoking increases your risks during surgery and slows healing .
Talk to your doctor about “ quit smoking aids ” such as the nicotine patch or other medications to help reduce cigarette cravings and help ease the withdrawal symptoms .
Other helpful resources include :
� Smokefree . gov
This site offers a Step-by-Step Quit Guide , Tools to Help You Quit , and professionals to help you ( Talk to the Expert ).
� Ohio Tobacco Quit Line
1-800-QUIT-NOW ( 1-800-784-8669 )
� American Cancer Society Quit Line www . cancer . org 1-800-ACS-2345 ( 1-800-227-2345 )