Listen in or read the partial transcription below as Xue Zeng, MD, FACS, shares expert insights on what patients can do to physically and mentally prepare for their surgery. Dr. Zeng practices General Surgery at Skagit Regional Health. 

Partial transcription:

Caitlin Whyte (Host): This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as personal medical advice.

Welcome to Be Well with Skagit Regional Health. I'm your host, Caitlyn Whyte and joining me today is Dr. Xue Zeng from Skagit Regional Health, we will be talking all about preparing for surgery and recovery.

Great to have you on the show today, Doctor. My first question for you is, what are the most important things patients should do to prepare for surgery, both physically and mentally?

Xue Zeng, MD, FACS: Thank you. That is a question a lot of patients ask us too. From a physical side, these are the things that are typically addressed in the patient's pre-op package. Very important for patients to read through the pre-op package, particularly knowing when they last need to eat or drink and what medications they need to take.

Also, I would recommend patients to stay active, as they were preparing for the patient, but then get plenty of rest the night before their surgery. In addition, sometimes they'll also be given instructions on whether they need to do any bowel prep or any like additional antibiotics or special diet to do before the surgery.

Those are important instructions, to talk to your doctor and follow them through and mentally really, have a good support system, practice stress relief techniques like deep breathing and mindfulness. And we also want to arrange the logistics of going into the surgery and how to recover and getting plenty of help at home and with help of transportation.

Host: Wonderful. So that is preparation for surgery, but can you walk us through also what typically happens on the day of surgery from check-in to post-op?

Xue Zeng, MD, FACS: Typically, I tell my patient too, that when you come for surgery, no matter how short the surgery is, you do want to prepare that as a whole day event. Sometimes, you need to come into the hospital early to complete the paperwork, change into surgical attire and also at the same time, after that, you will have IV placed.

Our nursing staff and our anesthesiologist will talk to you about the medications, your medical history, the procedures you have. Some surgeries do require some imaging studies to be done, procedures to be done prior to the surgery. For example, for orthopedic surgeries, you may need to have a nerve block placed.

And then for breast surgery, injections or localization pictures done prior to the surgery. Then after everything is, you are prepared; you've talked to anyone who's going to be with you. That includes your doctor, your anesthesiologist and in the nursing staff. In the operating room, you will be moved to the operating room, getting the type of anesthesia you're going to have and have your procedure performed. When you wake up from surgery, the first place most patients will remember is the post-anesthesia care unit, what we call PACU. That's a place where you will get close monitoring by our PACU nurses while you are waking up from anesthesia and that's a space you won't have your family or friends with you.

And when you're more awake from anesthesia and when you're safe to do so, then you'll move to area when you recover more from surgery. But that's the time when you see your family and friends. And then, depending on the surgery you have, you either will go home from there or you'll go to a hospital bed to continue your recovery.

Host: Wonderful. Well, what are some misconceptions that patients have when it comes to surgery and recovery?

Xue Zeng, MD, FACS: One of the most common things, at least some of my patients have is the recovery course. Like the surgery is more of an instant. I have a problem; I have pain, the surgery, fix it and then I'm back to my baseline. But surgery is really just one, small part of this whole recovery and healing process.

After surgery, our body needs to recover from the surgery itself and then we'll need to continue the healing and rehabilitation to make you back towards your baseline and that can take from a few days to a few weeks or sometimes a few months depending on what surgery you're having, what conditions we're treating and how your body's recovering from surgery cause everyone's body's different. The other common thing is that pain after surgery that means something is wrong. Pain equals something is wrong. Some pain is expected and normal after surgery cause you are having just had a invasive procedure. So that's your body's natural response is to sense the pain from the procedure itself.

So that having pain itself doesn't mean there is something wrong and your doctors will walk you through what is expected and what is not expected. And the goal of treating the pain or either through ice packs, heat compress, or medications, is not to completely eliminate the pain.

But it's to help you cope and handle this discomfort after surgeries too, so that you can continue to head towards a better recovery.

To listen to the podcast or read the full transcript, visit here.