Q&A: General Surgery
General surgeons are unique because they provide both medical and surgical care and focus on multiple areas of the human body. They perform surgeries for a wide range of diseases, injuries and conditions affecting the abdomen, breasts, digestive system, endocrine system and skin.
General surgeons are also responsible for patient care before, during and after surgery; they perform tasks outside of surgeries such as evaluating biopsies, lab tests and imaging tests.
To learn more about general surgery, we connected with Dr. Eyone Jones, Dr. Laureen Rubino and Dr. Maher Suede, a few of our highly skilled and qualified ECHN General Surgeons.
Q: What advice would you give your patients to help them live their most healthy and happy life?
Dr. Eyone Jones: Avoid a sedentary lifestyle, enjoy in moderation, and live each day compassionately caring for yourself and others. This translates into a healthier and happier YOU.
Dr. Laureen Rubino: A healthy life is not only what you eat, it is staying active and exercising as much as possible. Those are the people who recover quickest and live long, healthy lives.
Dr. Maher Suede: If you believe you have a condition, do not ignore it. Ask your doctor for a referral to a general surgeon. Gallstones, or a simple hernia, can cause several complications and require an emergency operation if left untreated.
Q: What are the most common procedures general surgeons perform?
A: Most general surgery practices encompass a wide variety of services that include skin/soft tissue and breast procedures, skin lesions, varicose vein closures, various types of abdominal wall/groin and stomach hernias, gallbladder and appendix issues along with bowel resections and upper gastrointestinal diseases.
Q: What does the general surgery process consist of?
A: Many procedures performed are same day and minimally invasive, outpatient procedures that use advanced robotics. Patients arrive at the hospital about on the day of surgery about 1.5 hours before the schedule procedure and are cared for initially by the pre-operative surgical team ensuring that all pre-operative and safety measures are met prior to their surgical procedure. Once cleared by the skilled pre-operative staff and anesthesia team, the patient is ushered to the operating room where they undergo their surgical procedure. After, they are taken to the post-operative surgical suite to be cared for by our compassionate healthcare team ensuring a safe and stable discharge a few hours later.
Q: How long does it take to recover from general surgery?
A: It is important to remember that all patients and procedures are unique and may have a different recovery time. Depending on the type of surgery patients take a couple days to recover and others may take a couple of weeks. Usually patients are typically back to work performing light duty 1 week after surgery.
Q: What is an important for people to know about general surgery?
A: The best medicine is preventative by engaging in healthy habits/activities. However, for the unavoidable disease processes plaguing our population, general surgery provides a multitude of procedures to help make people whole again. General surgeons are the first ones to be called for consultations and they can treat a wide array of diseases and conditions that involves multiple organ systems. From skin cancer, to endocrine disorders such as thyroid and parathyroid disease, breast cancer, gastric cancer, ulcers, gallbladder and disease to the bile ducts, disorders of the spleen and liver, small and large bowel, appendix, hernias, treatment of varicose veins, and much more. All that makes general surgery one of the widest and most demanding surgical specialties that requires the surgeon to have a broad knowledge and to stay up to-date on the latest advances in surgery.
