On the day of laryngeal cancer surgery

Before your operation

If you have any questions about your operation your nurse can arrange for a member of the surgical team to come and talk to you. You sign a consent form for the operation if you didn't do it at the pre assessment clinic.

Your nurse will go through a series of questions on a checklist to make sure you are ready for surgery. They ask you to:

• tell them when you last had something to eat and drink 

• change into a hospital gown

• put on a pair of anti embolism stockings - these help prevent blood clots

• take off any jewellery - you may be able to keep a wedding ring on

• remove contact lenses if you have them

• wear a hospital identification band - this is normally on your wrist

If you have false teeth you can usually keep them in until you get to the anaesthetic room.

For some types of surgery, you might need to remove some of your hair on your face or neck around the operation area. Your nurse or doctor will tell you if you need to do this. Or your nurse might do this for you when you’re under anaesthetic in the operating room.

Medicine to relax

Your nurse might give you a tablet or an injection to help you relax. This will be an hour or so before you go to the operating theatre. This makes your mouth feel dry. But you can rinse your mouth with water to keep it moist. 

Your nurse and a porter take you to theatre on a trolley if you’ve had this medicine. You can walk down to the theatre if you haven't had any.

Having an anaesthetic

You have an anaesthetic so that you can’t feel anything during the operation. You have this in the anaesthetic room or the operating theatre.

All the doctors and nurses wear theatre gowns, hats and masks. This reduces your chance of getting an infection.

The ​anaesthetist​ puts a small tube (cannula) into a vein in your arm. You have any fluids and medicines you need through the cannula including the general anaesthetic. This sends you into a deep sleep. When you wake up, the operation will be over.

Before your operation your anaesthetist might put a small tube through the skin of your back. It goes into the fluid around your spinal cord. They can attach a pump to this tube to give you pain medicines during and after the operation.

Waking up after surgery

After the operation, you usually go from the operating room to the recovery room. You stay in the recovery room until you are well enough to go back to the ward.

Read about what happens after laryngeal cancer surgery