You will leave the hospital when you are ready and not any sooner. Over 90% of our parathyroid patients go home within 2 hours of the operation. Only about 1 person every 2-3 months (every 700-800 patients) will need to spend the night in the hospital.
If you aren’t ready to go in 2 hours, then that is fine; you can sleep for a while until you are ready. However, you should know that you will feel sleepy for several hours after the operation. Almost everybody leaves the hospital and goes to take a nap at home or at their hotel.
Don’t expect to leave the hospital and go to lunch (although some people do). Instead, you should expect to leave and sleep in your car on your drive back to Orlando or elsewhere in Florida, or head back to the hotel and take a nap for a few hours.
Take a well-deserved nap!
Almost everybody takes a nap when they leave the hospital and typically this is a 2-3 hour nap. Your family gets a nap too, what we call a “sympathy nap”! Almost everybody feels pretty good after the nap and then it’s time to go out for dinner for most of you. We have a lot more on this topic in the Post-Op Instructions sections of this app.
Don’t check out of the hotel in the morning.
If you are staying at one of our hotels, you MIGHT have an opportunity for a late check out. Tell the hotel you are having surgery with the Norman Parathyroid Center at the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery and ask for a late checkout (they will probably give you until 2:00 or even 3:00 pm). Even if you are scheduled for surgery at 07:00 and expect to drive back to Orlando after surgery, this will give you an opportunity to got to the hotel for a few hour’s nap before making the drive back home.
Hospital Sprinter Van Transportation
If you plan to use the hospital Shuttle Van provided by our 5 partner hotels, make sure the hotel knows, and make sure you tell your nurses at the hospital. The shuttle leaves the hospital on the hour, last one being at 4:00 pm.