Tips for pre- and post-hospitalisation

Margie Young shares easy tips to help manage your pre- and post-hospitalisation.

Tips to manage your elective procedure hospitalisation

• Confirm your surgery date
• Confirm your authorisation with your medical aid.
• Confirm your hospital pre-admission. Be sure to disclose that you have diabetes so that you will be one of the first on the list.
• Confirm what medication you should continue or discontinue with.
• Be prepared. Get your running around done ahead of time. Pack your bags, get your chronic meds and ensure you have extra test strips.
• Focus on you, closer to surgery. Guard yourself, keep to immediate family and stay away from big gatherings. Hydrate, eat nutritiously and be compliant with your medication. Get good quality sleep.
• If you tend to have hypos, have your own rescue remedy (juice, Coke, Super C’s).

Tips to manage an emergency hospitalisation

• Be prepared for any emergency. This includes: an ICE tag or card with your eemergency contact details and a list of your medication and doses (even those meds that nobody knows about, like garlic tablets, or PDE5 inhibitors for erectile dysfunction).

Recovery time tips

IN HOSPITAL

• Follow instructions.
• Day 1 – 4 are considered the most critical days.
• Remember to hydrate. Avoid sugary drinks.
• Get moving – if possible. Major surgery usually recommends staying in bed for 24 – 48hrs post-surgery.
• Good hygiene. Brushing teeth is a must.
• Nap and sleep as needed.

AT HOME

• Follow instructions.
• Take your medication as prescribed.
• Do not do too much too soon.
• Nutrition is vital. Get enough of the right stuff to eat and drink.
• Get moving. Move slowly if you must. Do the rehab exercises prescribed.
• Good hygiene. To avoid unnecessary delay in wound healing.
• Rest

Glucose management

Glucose levels will be variable, often due to many of the factors that affect your blood glucose, so be sure to test more frequently and adjust your insulin accordingly as medications alter the effectiveness of the insulin.