Dad's pre surgery chat tomorrow!!

The specialist nurse(s) and doctors (there will probably be more than one surgeon doing the op) they will cover most things about the surgery itself and about the stay in hospital: what wards he’ll be on and for how long; about pain relief and maybe all the tubes and wires that’ll be attached and their gradual removal. The surgery does sound scary but although it is complicated and major it is pretty routine (unfortunately), and has bee performed for 50 years. Surgery is intended to be curative so it’s the best option. One thing that is important are the breathing exercises - be clear why these are important. And why two chest tubes?

What maybe you’ll want to know is what things will be like once he’s home and the stages of convalescence and recovery; what he’ll be able to eat and how much exercise he should take.

I’d recommend that your dad keeps a notebook and a journal of events plus the names and phone numbers of the various people and teams. There is a lot to remember!

of course we will all be here to relate our experiences and recollections.

Hi ..From what I remember at my husbands pre op appointment with his medical team they pretty much went through everything with us step by step …I remember asking about post surgery pain relief and it was explained he would have an epidural for five days …I think the only time we felt uneasy was when we met the consultant anaesthetist..He was very graphic and then proudly stated it was the biggest op they did in that particular hospital ! …He certainly didn’t take the gentle approach and very clinical in his manner .

I’m sure your Dad’s medical team will explain everything to you both in detail …My husband was sent home with a lung breathing exerciser and was given instructions on how to use it to help strengthen and expand his lungs before his surgery and he also used it post surgery whilst in hospital 

.I do remember though we both felt amazingly uplifted after the appointment as we knew clearly what was going to happen and his team were very reassuring and alleviated a lot of our fears .

Hope all goes well tomorrow 

regards J 

Thank you for sharing Brent. I'll be taking my notebook for sure. Will write everything down. My dad is more the type to ask things as the conversation goes along, which is fine, but I'm a bit more like to have it prepared beforehand! Scary days ahead but if they talk us through everything, at least we'll have a clearer idea of what's to come.

Thanks for the tips JPM. Yeah I remember it being mentioned at an earlier appointment just how major this op will be, and it being a very long 8 hour operation!! That does scare me. Dad still hasn't got his full taste back after his last cycle of chemo which finished over 3 weeks ago. I've noticed he's lost some more weight which worries me, but I'll mention that today. Just want him to be as strong as he can to get through it all. Worrying times... 

I know it’s hard but try not to worry ..Your Dad is in excellent hands ..He’ll be well looked after ….My husband was the same with his weight loss..he was two stone underweight when he had his surgery ..they fed him around the clock through his JEJ whilst he was in hospital and he was ok …It’s taken him almost a year to put the majority of the weight he lost back on ..it’s a slow process

…Good luck today …regards J