Pre-op assessment tomorrow

Hi JayB. Pre-Op is normally focussed on your suitability for surgery; checking your weight / height, ECG, health history, meds you're on, blood tests if they need them etc. It's thorough but it's quite a general discussion and they probably won't have specialist knowledge to discuss anaesthetics etc. Anything like that I'd probably email your Consultant or their secretary to share your concerns so you get a quicker response directly. They probably won't be able to help you with surgery dates. I had my pre-op a month ago and all they could tell me was "well.. it's down as urgent so...it won't be next year" - which wasn't particularly comforting at the time ;) FYI It was a month gap for me.

If your hospital is anything like mine that's handled by a completely different department and it takes a bit of time for that to kick into motion  that might be something you can discuss with Admissions once they get in touch with you. I would imagine they won't have a problem if you need to wait a little while to make things easier for you. I think it's the chasing for it to be done quicker they don't like :)

Hope it goes well!

Hi JayB. It's understandable that you have these concerns.  I had my total hysterectomy a month ago today.  A couple of things: I needed to put my surgery date back by a week, so approached the surgeon's secretary directly about this, which is something Cakenport mentioned, below in her reply, which is really helpful.

I was very open about all sorts of relevant clinical physical and emotional thing in my pre-op assessment, especially things that the anaesthetists needed to be aware of, such as blood issues, and the risk of bleeding during surgery. Very glad I did, because that helped me to feel more confident as I prepared for the general anaesthetic.  Secondly, if you have any questions or are unclear about the epidural, which I have not heard of in relation to laparascopic surgery, just again, ask your pre-op nurse, and surgeon (via secretary).  Thirdly, if your hospital has specialist gynaecology nurses, they, in my experiencce, are so good at taking questions, and sending them on to the surgeon if needed.  

I was extremely nervous about open abdominal, but my surgeon and her colleagues re-assured me many times, that this is very rare indeed.

Probably haven't helped, but thinking of you x

Hi JayB, unless you have an appointment scheduled with your consultant afterwards, you’re unlikely to get those questions answered tomorrow as, as Cakenport said, the team you see is geared towards your fitness for the op and there’s a LOT of questions to get through, plus blood tests, blood pressure etc and an MRSA swab. I’d recommend contacting your CNS as they will be able to directly ask your consultant. I had my pre op assessment middle of Dec 21, and saw my consultant/surgeon on Dec 31 (which was when he gave me my op date) and I asked him the same question as you - as fo whether I’d be offered an epidural. He said this hospital didn’t offer them to everyone and it wasn’t planned to offer me one, I was pleased as I’d had one when I had my second child and wasn’t keen on another. He was also able to reassure me that, though he wouldn’t know for sure till he got in there, he was reasonable confident it would be laparoscopic (and it was). My op was 5 weeks after my pre op, and 3 weeks after my consultant appointment. 

Hi JayB. I had an epidural with my hysterectomy and had no problems with it. I have long standing lower back problems so was a bit worried that might affect it but it worked really well. I was really lucky with my anaesthetist who was happy to spend lots of time explaining the pros and cons. I went for it and didn’t need any other pain relief apart from paracetamol after my op so a big plus. 

I don’t know if it’s an option everywhere but the gynae department at my local hospital invites people in for a “what to expect” session a few weeks before op dates and it was really reassuring. It might be worth checking with the ward you’ll be on does anything similar or has a way for you to ask questions beforehand? 

hope all goes well!