Ways You Can Make Your Hysterectomy Safer

Operations have risks as well as benefits, and there are risks as well as benefits from not going ahead with the surgery that is recommended. But improving safety has been a goal of surgeons and it;s helpful on the patient end to do what you can to enhance safety. Going into an operation, well rested, well nourished including consistent multivitamin with iron use over the past days, weeks or months, in optimal physical exercise shape always are beneficial. But many women approaching surgery have no luxury of the time, the fortitude, or the health to make those first tips work. But there are other simple things. A basic check up with your primary care physician is important. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has recommendations for what tests each person needs. Many surgeons believe in a pre-procedure bowel clean out. That helps in two ways, it makes it safer if, hopefully not, but if there is a bowel injury; but it is also a way that the bowel can collapse and this makes your surgeon be able to see better during the operation. Stop medicines that cause blood clotting. For NSAIDs like ibuprofen or naproxen it would be a week, for aspirin it would require about two weeks off, for herbals that can produce blood thinning, two weeks is also a good rule of thumb. If you are on actual blood thinners consult your prescribing physician. See your dentist first. If you already have loose teeth this could cause a real problem if you need to have a breathing tube inserted. Make sure you have good lung health, if you have been self treating allergies and any asthma, it’s important to both have your prescriptions current and find out when you are to take them prior to and just after surgery. Tell your physician about any problems you have had with prior surgeries, and a plan can be made to try to avoid those complications during your hysterectomy surgery. Actually any problems with anesthesia your family members have had are important. Make sure you have removed your piercings in advance, especially if they are near the area of incision, as they may be tracking in small amounts of bacteria that could hamper healing. Self blood storage is no longer necessary for the average woman. This just makes you iron depleted heading into your surgery and it is better to not do the storage. That being said, if you have a very rare blood type or a strong reason for a transfusion during surgery it may be wise to discuss with your gyno if you should do blood storage.