What to expect at the hospital or surgery center

We’ll help you follow these Enhanced Recovery steps to manage pain and start healing.

Your care team will:

• Ask about your pain. You’ll receive a mixture of pain medications with fewer opioids. This will keep you more comfortable and less nauseated and constipated. It also will help you feel well enough to begin eating and moving.
• Apply ice, if instructed by your surgeon, to decrease swelling and ease pain.
• Offer you liquids and light food. Even if you’re not hungry, try to eat a small amount of food. Eating and drinking gives you energy to heal.
• Help you move. Moving helps you feel better and prevents blood clots and pneumonia. We’ll help you sit up in bed, stand, and walk soon after surgery.
• Encourage you to exercise your lungs with an incentive spirometer, if recommended by your surgeon. For some surgeries, an incentive spirometer is used to help prevent pneumonia.