SKIN CANCER CENTER OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

Instructions for your upcoming surgery

  1. We suggest someone come with you to drive. If you cannot have anyone come with you, we will have you sign a wavier, stating we suggested you have someone with you, but you have decided to come by yourself.
  2. You will be here for approximately three hours. It could be more or less depending on how long it takes to clear the skin cancer.
  3. You should eat before you come. We do have coffee, tea, juice and crackers here for you. Bring a sweater with you as it can get cool in the waiting room.
  4. Take any medications you would normally take in the morning. If your doctor did not specifically suggest you take aspirin, stop taken it 5-7 days before the surgery. Also stop Aleve, Ibuprofen, and Vit E 3 days before surgery.
  5. Shower the night before or the morning of surgery. The bandage we put on after the surgery will need to stay on and dry for at least two days. We will go over how to do the dressing changes with you before you leave the office. The instructions will be written down.
  6. When you go home, we will want you to take it easy. NO heavy lifting, excessive bending forward, golfing or exercising. If you are to apply ice to the site, protect the dressing by putting the ice in a plastic baggy.
  7. We will give you a prescription for Darvocet for pain.

What happens During the surgery

On the day of surgery, you will be taken to the operating room and Dr. Barber will mark out the skin cancer area. It will be numbed with Xylocaine and then Dr. Barber will remove the marked area. We will put on a temporary dressing, and let you go to the waiting room. The specimen will go to the lab and the tissue will be processed so Dr. Barber can look at the tissue under the microscope. If there is some remaining cancer, we will bring you back to the OR and remove only the area that still has the skin cancer. This will go on until the skin cancer is totally removed. When all the cancer is out we will bring you back to the operating room and close up the defect. Before you leave the OR, we will go over and give you written instructions on how and when to start changing your dressings. We call you the next morning to make sure you are doing well. You will have Dr. Barber's home and cell phone numbers if you have a problem after normal business hours.

We hope this information will help prepare you for your upcoming surgery. If you have any questions or we can be of further assistance, call us at the office Monday through Friday 8am-4pm.

Terry Hrobuchak, RN, CNOR

(352) 873-7788