Sharp San Diego Surgery Center

Before surgery, you will receive a call from a Sharp San Diego Surgery Center nurse to review your health history and recovery plans. The nurse will also provide specific instructions to help you prepare for your surgery.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Food, liquids, and tobacco
You will receive instructions from Sharp San Diego Surgery Center on when to discontinue food within 48 hours of your procedure. Do not consume alcohol or use recreational drugs 24 hours before your procedure, and do not smoke, vape or use tobacco products after midnight the night before your procedure.

Medications
Confirm with your physician if you need to stop taking any medications such as blood thinners or insulin before surgery.

Driving
You should not drive immediately following surgery. You must have an adult friend or family member accompany you to and from the Sharp San Diego Surgery Center.

Jewelry, lotions and makeup
On the day of your surgery, you should bathe or shower and avoid wearing makeup, lotions and perfumes. You may be instructed to bathe with a special soap. Please remove all jewelry, including wedding rings and any body piercings.

We will ask you many questions in the pre-op area, some of which are repeated, to make sure we fully understand your medical history as well as make sure you are ready for your anesthesia and surgery.

Next, an IV will be started for administering medications. This is necessary to administer many of the medications you will receive during your surgery, including anesthesia medications. Your anesthesia will be given by an anesthesiologist contracted by Sharp San Diego Surgery Center.

You may also be given some medication pills to swallow with a tiny sip of water.

Please do not eat, drink or chew gum ahead of your surgery. It is safer to undergo anesthesia with an empty stomach. There is a risk of stomach contents going into your lungs (aspiration) under anesthesia and fasting helps reduce this risk.

The anesthesiologist will meet you in pre-op to discuss the best type of anesthesia for you to feel safe and comfortable during your surgery. Sometimes, there is only one safe option. Other times, you may get a combination of two types, which may include:

• Local/regional “block” anesthesia
  Numbing medication is injected to block pain sensation for the surgical site.

• Monitored anesthesia care
  Sedation to help you relax but you may or may not be completely “asleep”; there is a small possibility of remembering surgery.

• General anesthesia
  Completely “asleep” so you will not remember or feel anything during your surgery, usually with a breathing tube. Intubation is always a possibility. If local/regional or monitored anesthesia care are chosen, there is still a small risk of having to undergo general anesthesia.

There are many possible side effects to the medications you will receive for anesthesia. Some common side effects include:

• Local/regional “block” anesthesia: numbness, tingling, weakness/heaviness in the area/extremity usually for 12-48 hours

• Monitored anesthesia care: nausea/vomiting/drowsiness

• General anesthesia: sore throat, nausea/vomiting, headache, drowsiness

Next, the OR team will take you back to the operating room, help you move to the OR bed, and place monitors to measure your vital signs. Then you will be given the sedation/anesthesia that was agreed upon in the pre-op area for your surgical procedure.

Once your procedure is done, you will be transferred to the recovery room for close monitoring until you are awake. There is variable recovery time for each surgery (as short as 15 min recovery for most eye procedures). You typically go home within two hours after the surgery is over.

Family members and other loved ones are not allowed into operating rooms as they are sterile environments specifically for surgery.

Your family or friends can join you in the pre-operative area while you are prepped for surgery and in the post-operative recovery room before you’re discharged.

While you are in surgery, the Sharp San Diego Surgery Center has a large waiting area specifically for caregivers, family and friends. We offer free Wi-Fi and electrical outlets for your use while your loved ones wait for you.

No. You should not drive, operate machinery, consume alcohol or take any medications not prescribed or recommended by your physician for 24 hours after your surgery.

Please have an adult friend or family member accompany you to and from the Sharp San Diego Surgery Center. You may not take a taxi alone or walk to the bus.

Please contact your surgeon or primary care physician with any questions regarding your care after surgery, including any questions related to your prescriptions.

Your doctors are the best source of information about your ongoing health and recovery after surgery. They can work with you on your overall care plan.

Eating
You may slowly progress from drinking to eating as you become more awake after surgery and feel well enough to do so.

Medications
You will often receive narcotic/opiate pain medications in recovery. Your surgeon may prescribe pain medications if significant pain is anticipated after discharge. Please take them with food and plenty of fluids if not nauseated. Keep in mind that narcotics can cause nausea, sedation and constipation.

Resuming activities
Your surgeon should provide specific recovery instructions for after your procedure.

Your surgeon’s office will work directly with you to schedule any post-surgical care. Those appointments will be in your provider’s office, and not at the Sharp San Diego Surgery Center.

To pay a bill for yourself or a loved one related to a visit at Sharp San Diego Surgery Center, visit Patient Notebook. Please have your billing statement on hand to enter your information.

Billing from Sharp San Diego Surgery Center will not include fees for your surgeon, anesthesiologist, laboratory, pathology or other diagnostic tests ordered by your surgeon. These items are billed separately by each provider.