Advice after surgery

About advice after surgery

You are a patient at HMC Bronovo and you are leaving the hospital today after an operation. For a good recovery, it is important that you follow the advice ticked below. A nurse will discuss the topics with you during a consultation. He or she will check what is important for you and, if necessary, provide more information.

Op deze webpagina vindt u de Nederlandse tekst.

Medication

Here you will find information about your medication use after your release from the hospital.

☐ You can take 2 500mg tablets of paracetamol every 6 hours. After 2 days, take 2 500mg tablets of paracetamol every 8 hours for as long as necessary.
☐ You can/cannot continue with the medication you used at home.
☐ If you use blood-thinning medication (marcoumar of acenocoumarol), you can restart taking it on__________________. Please inform the thrombosis service about this.
☐ You must continue taking Fraxiparine for _____ weeks.

Medication specifics:

Care of the wound

You can take care of the wound at home yourself. You can find out about the correct way to do this below.

☐ The wound may get wet after _____ days. You may shower again, but you cannot take a bath yet.
☐ The pressure bandage can be removed after_____ hours/days
☐ You can remove the dressing or bandage after _____ days. If the dressing or bandage gets wet, you should replace it with a clean plaster immediately.
☐ The wound should be rinsed in the shower twice a day and then, once dry, dressed with absorbent dressing.
☐ The sutures:
☐ Are dissolvable
☐ Will be removed by your general practitioner. (You have to make an appointment yourself.)
☐ Will be removed at the outpatient clinic at the hospital (an appointment will be made for you.)

Specifics for caring for your wound:

Food and drink

It is important that you follow the advice below. This prevents complications after surgery.

☐ We recommend you not to consume alcohol or drugs until 24 hours after the operation.
☐ Only eat and drink cold/ liquid/ soft food and drinks. We have explained on the ward what this meant.
☐ You may eat and drink whatever you feel like.
☐ When you have a wound, it is important to eat and drink protein-rich products.
☐ It is important to bear in mind that smoking seriously slows healing of the wound and is therefore not recommended.

Nutrition specifics:

Exercise

☐ Wear your arm in a sling for _____ days. Keep your hand higher than your elbow.
☐ Exercise is important unless the movement is painful for you. Exercise prevents you from getting thrombosis. Thrombosis is a blood clot in the bloodstream.
☐ Take it easy for the first week after surgery. Stop moving if the movement is too painful for you.
☐ You may drive again after_____ days/weeks.
☐ You may cycle again after _____ days/weeks.
☐ You may play sports/work out again after _____ days/weeks.
☐ You may work again after _____ days/weeks.
☐ You may lift/strain again after_____ days/weeks.

Exercise specifics:

After key hole surgery

After a key hole operation you can feel pain in your shoulders. This is normal and the pain will go away on its own. You can take paracetamol if necessary.

After an operation by the gynaecologist

You can experience blood loss in the first days.

As long as you have blood loss, you cannot:

• Use tampons
• Have a bath, go to the swimming pool or sauna
• Have intercourse

These rules have been put in place to prevent you from getting an infection.

Do you get a high temperature (fever)? Or do you experience blood loss and is this blood clear red and/or has a strong smell to it? Please contact the outpatient clinic Gynecology.

Complications

If you have any of the following complications, it is important to immediately contact your general practitioner or the outpatient clinic treating you:

• You have a fever above 38,5 degrees (Celsius)
• You suffer from blood loss or increasing pain.
• The wound is red and swollen.
• There is dirt or pus coming from the wound.

Outside of office hours you can contact the Accident and Emergency Department of HMC Westeinde. The Accident and Emergency Department’s telephone number is 088 979 23 80.

Complications specifics:

Follow up appointments

You can find your follow up appointment with your attending specialist in our patient portal mijnHMC.

Questions

If you have any questions, you can call the outpatient clinic of your attending specialist from Monday to Friday during office hours.

We wish you a speedy recovery!