For Patients

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  • You will be given the exact fasting times with your admission details. As a guide, no food for six hours before surgery and clear fluids only up to two hours before. If you take a GLP-1 medication such as Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro, please tell Dr Salter as these usually need to be stopped and you will be given instructions to follow a clear fluid diet the day before surgery.

  • Most medications can be taken as usual with a sip of water on the morning of surgery. Blood thinners, diabetes and high blood pressure medications and some others may need to be stopped or adjusted. Dr Salter’s rooms will let you know which medications to stop and when to stop them in the days leading up to surgery. Bring a list of your medications to your appointment with Dr Salter.

  • Bring your Medicare card, private health fund card and any imaging or test results. Pack a list of your medications, your glasses, hearing aids, a phone charger, and loose comfortable clothing to go home in. If you are staying overnight, add toiletries and something to read. Leave jewellery and valuables at home.

  • You cannot drive yourself home after an anaesthetic or sedation, and you should not drive for at least twenty four hours afterwards. Arrange for someone to collect you and, if you are going home the same day, to stay with you overnight. Most hospitals will not discharge a day surgery patient without someone collecting the patient.

  • Dr Salter writes to your GP after your consultation and again on the day you leave hospital, so that they will know what has been carried out. It helps to let your GP know your surgery date as well, particularly if they manage your blood thinners, diabetes or blood pressure medications.

Before Your Surgery

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On The Day of Surgery

You will be given the time to arrive at the hospital before your operation. Admission staff will check your details, and you will change into a gown and be taken to a pre-operative area.

Your Anaesthetist will meet with you to go through your medical history and the plan for your anaesthesia and explain how you will be put to sleep and kept comfortable. Dr Salter will also see you before the surgery to confirm what the operation involves and answer any last minute questions.

The anaesthesia or medicine to put you to sleep will be given through an IV line in your hand or arm. You will not be aware of the operation itself, and you will wake in the recovery room with a nurse by your bedside.

When the operation is finished, Dr Salter will call your next of kin to tell them how the operation progressed. She will review you after the operation before you go home.

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  • You will experience some pain for several days after your operation. Take regular pain relief such as paracetamol if in pain rather than waiting for the pain to intensify. If the pain becomes unmanageable, you should then take the stronger pain relief that has been prescribed for you. The prescribed pain relief causes constipation, so drink plenty of water and use laxatives. Please call the Dr Salter rooms on (03) 9707 3664 if you are experiencing pain despite the stronger pain relief medication.

  • Keep your dressings clean and dry. You will be told when you can shower, and whether your dressings need to be changed. Stitches may dissolve on their own or need removing. Dr Salter will advise which type of stitches you have. Do not put creams or ointments on the wound unless you are told to.

  • Call the rooms if you have a fever, increasing pain, redness spreading from the wound, discharge, or if you are vomiting and cannot keep fluids down.

    Go to your nearest emergency department, or call 000, if you have chest pain, difficulty breathing, or pain and swelling in a calf. Do not wait to be seen in the rooms.

  • Dr Salter will review you in her rooms a few weeks after surgery. The rooms will arrange the appointment before you leave hospital. Call the rooms sooner on (03) 9707 3664 if you are worried or have any concerns rather than wait for your appointment.

  • Gradually return to your normal routine. Avoid heavy lifting for the time period as advised by Dr Salter. Do not drive until you have recovered from your surgery.

After Your Surgery

Get In Touch

Contact

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes. You will need a referral from your GP or Specialist. A current referral allows you to claim a Medicare rebate on your consultation. If you have one, call the rooms on
    (03) 9707 3664.

  • New referrals are seen promptly. Referrals are sent from your GP via HealthLink (EDI caseysug), email or fax, and the rooms will contact you directly to arrange an appointment. If your referral is urgent please call the rooms on (03) 9707 3664

  • Dr Salter consults and operates privately at Cabrini Malvern, Cabrini Brighton, Cabrini Local - Sorento, Jessie McPherson Private Hospital in Clayton and St John of God Berwick Hospital caring for patients across Melbourne's Inner South and South East, Bayside and the Mornington Peninsula. She holds a public hospital appointment at Monash Health.

  • Yes. Dr Sherry Salter meets with privately insured and self funding patients. Public patients are seen at Monash Health through GP referrals.

  • Dr Sherry Salter is a General Surgeon and Renal Transplant Surgeon. She treats patients with gallstones, hernias, skin lesions, appendicitis and performs dialysis access surgery including AV fistulas, peritoneal dialysis catheters and permcaths. She also performs kidney transplants.

  • Fees are discussed with you before surgery so there are no surprises. The rooms provide a written estimate covering the surgeon and hospital, and will confirm what Medicare and your health fund cover. Call the rooms on (03) 9707 3664 to discuss.

  • Dr Sherry Salter MB ChB, FRACS, PFET (Transplant) graduated in Medicine from the University of Otago, New Zealand in 2003 and was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) in General Surgery in 2013. She completed sub-specialty training and obtained a Fellowship in Renal and Pancreas Transplantation Surgery at Westmead Hospital in Sydney and Monash, and a fellowship in Trauma and Acute Surgery at Auckland City Hospital in 2012.

  • Yes. Dr Sherry Salter can review your symptoms or recommended operation and give you her opinion. Ask your GP for a referral for a second opinion, and bring any previous imaging, test results and reports.