Procedures

For those patients undergoing a procedure, please remember not to eat or drink at least (6) hours before your appointment. If you are a diabetic, do not take your insulin or your oral hypoglycemics (blood sugar medicine) until you have had something to eat, after the procedure. Make sure to tell the nurses that you are a diabetic so that your case can be done early in the morning, allowing you to eat and take your medicines as soon as possible. Your other medicines may be taken with a sip of water, on the morning of your procedure. Family members are not allowed in rooms during procedures. Also, it is required that you have someone drive you home after the procedure. The driver most be a responsible adult. Having a Taxi does not meet our safety standards. The person accompanying you should be strong enough to help you, in the event that your legs become temporarily weak, due to the local anesthetics.

Should you eat, drink, or not have a driver, your procedure will be rescheduled. You should always ask your physician to explain the procedure and its risks, before the day of the actual procedure. The staff should be able to provide you with written information about the procedure, before you have it done. If you have any doubts about the proposed procedure, we highly recommend that you do not have it done until all of these doubts have been properly addressed. Nevertheless, remember that because the physician has to work on a previously set time-schedule, properly addressing the issue on the day of the procedure may consume the allowed time scheduled for that visit, requiring that the procedure be rescheduled for a later date.

Blood thinners should be stopped prior to the procedure, especially if the proposed procedure is close to the spine. Prolonged bleeding can lead to hematomas, which can compress vital structures such as the spinal cord, resulting in permanent nerve damage, including paralysis. You should not take aspirin or aspirin containing medication for at least eleven (11) days prior to a procedure. This includes baby aspirins (81 mg). Coumadin, Heparin, Ticlid, Lovenox, and other blood thinners will also need to be stopped. For your own safety, you should consult the physician who prescribed the blood thinner, to assess the risks of stopping these medications, even for a short period of time.

If you have an active infection or a Cold, call and reschedule your appointment. Most of the procedures that we perform, involve the use of steroids. Steroids will temporarily decrease your immune system defenses, leading to worsening of existing infections. (e.i.: a simple “cold” can develop into a “life-threatening” pneumonia.)

If there is any chance of you being pregnant, you need to let us know. Some of the medications used may cause birth defects. In addition, some of the procedures that we perform may involve the use of fluoroscopy (x-rays), which may also cause birth defects.