What is pre-op?

Hi all,

Next week I am meeting with my surgeon and then have my pre-op appointment right after that. I'm having a total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis. I was just wondering, what exactly IS pre-op? No more invasive tests, I hope? Is it just basic bloodwork and such?

Also, about how long does a pre-op appointment take? My grandparents will be coming along with me for company and to meet the surgeon and ask any questions they think should be asked (my parents will be out of town). If the pre-op part of the day takes a long time I might tell them they can go out to lunch or something like that, so they don't have to sit in the waiting room the whole time.

in pre op you meet with the anaesthetist. he asks you general questions about your health, meassure blood pressure, weight, you give him your bloodwork, urine culture, ekg test, in some cases they also ask for chest x ray (i had to, cuz i have copd). so i think according to the tests they fit you with the right anaesthetic drug for you. (according to blood type, sensitivity to drugs, other issues in you medical history etc). you also meet with a nurse that asks you some more questions.

i had my STARR procedure in a public hospital and pre op took about 6 hours!! my colectomy and ileo op were in a private hospital and took about 40 minutes only.... so idk about the hospital you're having surgery. good luck!

My pre op took about 3 hours, and it felt like I was meeting with the most incompetent nurses in the hospital. I met with two different nurses who did extensive medical histories that overlapped a significant amount. I repeated everything over and over again while they attempted to type it correctly in the computer, even though I'd already filled it out on a very long form. (they added an extra zero to my 2000 mg of vitamin D, making it 20,000, so in the hospital they came up with this huge container of liquid vit D from the pharmacy and I had to get a dr to change the order). There was also blood work. I didn't meet w/the anesthesiologist, which was disappointing.

At mine they found out that I'd had an echo cardio test about eight years ago for something that turned out to be normal and a false alarm, but yet they wanted a copy of it. It was at the place I used to go to, and there wasn't time for them to get it through regular channels. Fortunately I keep copies of my medical records, so I had to bring them back a copy.

I was glad that for my recent surgery, there was no time to do the regular pr op.... that time I just had one of the nurses on same day surgery ask me questions for 20 minutes and it was no big deal.

Thanks everyone, I should call them before I go to get more information about the payment. I'm sure it differs depending on your insurance, but if you had to make a payment at your pre-op, was it a big payment?

My copay was a LOT. One thousand something.