About My Procedure
Most people meet their operation for the first time on a consent form. This site is meant to change that.
When a urologist recommends a procedure, the visit is short and the words are new. People go home with a name, a date and a lot of questions. My Procedure takes that name and shows you, in drawings and plain language, what will happen: why it is being done, how to prepare, each step in the operating room, what the days and weeks afterward are usually like, and what to watch for.
How the pages are written
Each page follows the same order and is written at about a sixth to eighth grade reading level. Medical words are explained the first time they appear. Numbers come from major guidelines and large studies, written as ranges, because results vary between hospitals and surgeons. Where good numbers do not exist, the page says so in words rather than inventing them.
Every page lists the organizations and guidelines it draws on and the month it was written. Pages are updated as practice changes.
How the drawings work
The drawings are made for this site, not traced from photographs. Each operation is a sequence of frames that change as you step through it, so you can see the same part of your body before, during and after each part of the operation. For procedures that apply to anyone, you can switch between male and female anatomy.
What this site is not
It is not a diagnosis, a second opinion or a treatment plan. Your surgeon knows your body, your scans and your health history, and their instructions come first whenever they differ from what you read here. If you think you have an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
The site does not ask for your name, and nothing you tick on a checklist leaves your device.