After Surgery

When your surgery is complete, you’ll spend some time recovering on-site. The amount of time can vary based on the individual and the type of procedure you’ve had done. When you are awake and ready, we’ll call for your visitors to come back. We will monitor you and make sure you’re feeling good before it’s time to send you home.

When you’re ready to be discharged, we’ll go over a specific plan for how to take care of yourself at home. We’ll review what you can and can’t do and how to take care of your surgical wound. We’ll discuss the importance of eating healthy like you did before surgery and verify that you have everything you need, from ice packs to transportation home. We’ll send you with prescriptions for medicine to keep you comfortable, usually a pain pill and a muscle relaxer.

On that note, many people are nervous that they will be in a lot of pain after surgery. Rest assured, our goal is to keep you as comfortable as possible throughout the entire process. We actively try to manage your pain from the beginning, and we can teach you how to keep up your pain management at home.

We want you to be able to continue to recover in the comfort and safety of your own home, but once you leave our doors, it doesn’t mean you’re on your own. We will call to check in on you and answer any questions that may come up after you’ve returned home. We’ll also schedule your follow-up appointments, usually at one week and six weeks after surgery, to check your surgical site and make sure you’re healing like you should.

If at any time between our phone calls to you or your appointments in our office you experience anything worrisome, like fever, redness or swelling of your wound, or increasing pain, call us! You can reach us 24 hours a day. We always have a surgeon on-call who can help you out.