We are going to create healing statements based on your concerns about surgery and how you want the surgery to turn out for you. These statements can be practiced during the period of time before you have surgery.

We will also work on a few statements that you will want to give to the surgeon or anesthesiologist to read to you just before anesthesia induction. These positive healing statements are what you want to hear just before you go under anesthesia so that your mind will receive the positive messages and your body will respond.

Healing Statements to Prepare You for Surgery
In preparing for surgery ask yourself if there is a concern that you have and if so what it is. The healing goals you write will depend on your concerns. For example, you could be worried about post-operative pain.

For Pain:
Most people are afraid to wake up having a lot of pain. So your healing goal might be "When I wake up after surgery, I will feel minimal discomfort" or realistically maybe you would say "tolerable discomfort." Do not even think of the word pain.

For Nausea and Vomiting:
If this is your concern, you might want a healing goal that says, "When I wake up after surgery I will feel comfortable and my stomach will feel calm."

For the Recovery Period after Surgery:
What is your expectation about recovery? You might say "After surgery I will heal at the normal pace that is expected" or "After surgery I will heal faster than expected."

You can incorporate these statements into your relaxation practices when you feel you are in a deeply relaxed state. You can say these healing goals to yourself knowing that whatever you're thinking, the body will react as if it is happening.

You can also practice this at any time of the day or night. It doesn't have to be part of a routine relaxation practice, although it could be, or you could just think about those phrases or statements over and over throughout the day and before you go to sleep. Think of this as being in training to prepare for a successful surgery. The more you practice this skill, the better you will be at it.

Healing Statements on the Day of Surgery Prior to Anesthesia
Sometime before surgery, tell your surgeon or anesthesiologist that you will be giving them healing statements that you would like one of them to read out loud to you just before anesthesia on the day of surgery. If you are not comfortable talking to your doctors about this you might ask the primary care nurse on the unit or your partner or spouse to advocate for you by speaking with your doctors and delivering your healing statements to them on your behalf.

Provide them with either a typewritten statement of goals or an easily readable handwritten note. It will be more effective if you limit your healing goals or statements to no more than three.

Here are examples of healing goals that your doctor will read to you:

For Pain:
"When you wake up from surgery you will have minimal or tolerable discomfort."

For Nausea and Vomiting:
"After surgery you will wake up and feel comfortable, and your stomach will feel calm."

Another example is to use craving a food that you love on waking up because you can't feel sick to your stomach and crave food at the same time.
So the healing statement might be:
"After surgery when you wake up you will be craving ____________."

For Healing:
"After surgery you will heal either in the normal time frame for your surgery or faster."

These healing statements will assist you in your preparation for surgery and may enhance your healing process and perhaps shorten your recovery period.