Before meeting your friend or family member for the ride home, your post-operative discharge instructions will be reviewed with you. It includes your surgeon's guidelines on activity level and diet, as well as the date of your next office visit.

Because most patients spend all or some of their recovery time at home, you need to know about home care. Before you go, you and your caregiver may want to ask about:

• diet;
• driving and other activities;
• medications;
• bandages and dressings;
• bathing and showering;
• pain (what to expect and what to do);
• stitches, staples, and incision care;
• signs of infection; and
• returning to work.