Getting ready for laparoscopy

Be sure to tell your doctor

• All your medicines, especially blood thinners and diabetes medicines. Your doctor will say what to stop and when
• Allergies to medicines, latex, or tape
• Heart or lung disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure
• Any problems with anesthesia in you or relatives
• If you catch a cold or get a fever before surgery

How to prepare

• Tests. Blood and urine tests, an ECG, a chest X-ray, and sometimes a GP checkup. Check the list and how long results stay valid with the clinic.
• Medicines. Do not stop them on your own. Your doctor will say which to take on the day and which to pause.
• Food and drink. Usually no food from the night before and no drinks for a few hours. The clinic will tell you the exact time.
• Skin. Shower the day before. You do not need to shave your belly unless the clinic asks.
• Smoking. Best not to smoke for at least a few days before. Breathing after anesthesia will be easier.

What to bring

• Your referral and all test results
• Documents and a list of your medicines
• Comfortable clothes, slippers, and a charger
• Your daily medicines

How it goes

1. You have the tests and checkups on the clinic's list
2. You bring the results to the surgeon
3. The day before, you talk with the anesthetist
4. In the evening, a light dinner and a shower
5. In the morning, you eat nothing and drink only what you were allowed
6. You arrive at the hospital at the set time

What you'll feel

• Feeling nervous before surgery is normal. Tell your doctor
• Hunger on the day of surgery, but not for long

Afterwards

• You can usually get up the same day or the next
• Pain at the small cuts and in the shoulder from the gas passes in a few days
• No heavy lifting, usually for a few weeks. Your surgeon will say how long