Patient Information

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before surgery

1.  Fasting Guidelines  (Please follow strictly or your surgery will likely be cancelled when you arrive and rescheduled):  

NOTHING swallowed for a minimum of 8 hours prior to arrival for surgery for all substances, except pills or clear liquids (list below) which are a minimum of 4 hours prior to surgery.  

Clear Liquids:  

  • water

  • clear sports drinks or soda

  • black coffee or black tea (NO cream or particulates)

  • clear juice (ie, a drink you can see through, no pulp)

 

2.   Ensure your readiness- if you have any serious or ongoing health issues, your Primary Physician or a designated specialist may have been involved in your "clearance" for surgery..  If you have any questions in this regard, feel free to contact a member of our team to better assess your needs prior to the day of your surgery.

  

3.  Speaking with our Team:

If you would like to convey any important serious health information about prior problems with anesthesia, or ask personal questions about your upcoming anesthetic or readiness prior to arriving, we are happy to speak with you.  Please call our answering service and ask for a chance to speak to one of our Physicians for a call back:

877-773-1842

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day of surgery

It is normal to feel apprehensive or have anxiety before surgery-  our expert team of physician anesthesiologists will be there with understanding, experience, and skill to help you successfully transition through your experience safely.   Some helpful advice may include: 

  • wear loose fitting clothing for comfort and ease of changing.

  • bring a book or music to manage delays that are often unpredictable with a procedure prior to yours where a surgeon or anesthesiologist may need to customize a patients care and take additional time, as he or she would with you.

  • Strictly follow the FASTING guidelines to the left....any deviation could cause a cancellation. If in doubt, don't put it in your mouth. In the case of diabetic patients, a call ahead to your primary physician or one of our team members can help manage your insulin and oral intake prior to surgery.

  • If uncertain as to which medications to take prior to surgery, please review the "Medications advice prior to Surgery" section below, where we have outlined the most important issues.

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after surgery

Going Home-  You must make arrangements for a responsible adult to take you home after your anesthetic or sedation. You will not be allowed to leave alone or drive yourself home. It is strongly suggested that you have someone stay with you during the first 24 hours.

Although nearly all of the anesthesia has left your system before you leave the recovery room, it is common after surgery to feel tired due to the physiologic stress of surgery and the pain medications that remain in your system.  It is also common to experience nausea after surgery, despite our team's best efforts to give prophylactic (preventive) IV anti-nausea medication during surgery.    If you have issues with nausea after you get home, your surgeon may be able to prescribe additional medication for treatment.  

Please feel free to contact us with any specific concerns regarding your anesthetic by using the "Contact" link above (email or phone options) and consider leaving feedback via the "Survey" link.   Questions related to your surgery itself are best addressed with a call to your surgeon.                                                                                         

 

 

Medication Advice Prior to Surgery

Most medications that you would normally take each morning should still be taken as scheduled the morning of your procedure. This is especially important with heart and blood pressure medications, except as noted below: 


You should NOT take the following medications the morning of your procedure unless you are specifically told by your physician to do so: 

  • Any diuretics (fluid pills usually taken for high blood pressure) which includes, but is not limited to:

-furosemide (Lasix), HCTZ (HydroDIURIL), triamterene (Dyrenium), torsemide (Demadex), spironolactone (Aldactone), acetazolamide (Diamox)

  • Any oral diabetic medication this includes, but is not limited to:

-pioglitazone (Actos), glimepiride (Amaryl), rosiglitazone (Avandia), chlorpropamide (Diabinese), glyburide (DiaBeta), meformin (Glucophage), glipizide (Glucotrol), miglitol (Glyset), tolbutamide (Orinase), repaglinide (Prandin), acarbose (Precose), nateglinide (Starlix), tolazamide (Tolinase)

  • Any medication that has to be taken with food or milk

  • The weight loss medicine called Phentermine, or related "phen" derivatives, should be stopped 14 DAYS prior to surgery.

  • Anticoagulants such as Coumadin (warfarin), Lovenox (Enoxaparin), Plavix (Clopidogrel), and aspirin should be held prior to surgery in most cases. Please consult your surgeon for the length of time to hold these medications before your surgery. If unable to coordinate with your surgeon, feel free to contact us via the links above.