Body & Soul with Gail Harris

Partners in Healing: Mind, Body and Prayer
Five Steps to Prepare for Surgery

Peggy Huddleston, M.T.S., author of Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster: A Guide of Mind-Body Techniques, recommends these five steps to anyone getting ready to undergo surgery:

· Relax to feel peaceful
· Visualize healing to turn anxieties into positive images
· Organize a support group for the hour or so before surgery
· Use healing statements during surgery
· Meet your anesthesiologist ahead of time
"When a patient is unconscious with anesthesia, or even conscious and having a anesthesia, in either state they're in a deep state of altered consciousness like hypnosis. So in that state when you say a statement like, 'Following this operation you will heal very well and be very comfortable,' it's just like they're hypnotized and it goes straight in. After surgery, people report that they use probably, 23 to 50 percent less pain medication. That's what the research findings show, throughout this country and throughout the world." -- Peggy Huddleston
"When we see someone before surgery we have probably about two or three minutes to establish some sort of trust with them. And we don't usually see them a day before surgery. The way surgery is done nowadays, you basically show up the day of the surgery and meet a stranger who's going to take your life in their hands. And we've found that patients that are well motivated, psychologically prepared, and know a little about what to expect from the hospital are going to be much easier to take care of." -- Dr. Alfred Daniels, anesthesiologist
"There's nothing really that beats the warm touch of a hand. That's why I've become a hand holder when our patients are going to sleep. I hold every one of their hands. Because they want to hold on to something. There's nothing like that bonding that goes on between the providers and support group and that patient. Whether it be a friendly voice or touching, repeating phrases. Anesthesiologists are much more capable of answering this than I, but they have known for years that some patients do hear when they're asleep. So I have an anesthesiologist read a positive statement. I do think they have a positive effect on that patient's recovery." -- Dr. Robert Hunt, gynecological surgeon
For more information on the five steps for preparing for surgery check into the following Web site: www.healfaster.com
Program Description
Larry Dossey, M.D.
All Day, 365 Days a Year
Five Steps to Prepare for Surgery
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Help Yourself

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