To think this can’t be that unusual before a General Anaesthetic?

[GeneralLevy]

Teenage son, at the stage of eating all he can see, had a GA today.
He wasn’t allowed to eat after 4am. He set his alarm for 3:30am and cooked a small meal. I gave permission, but didn’t wake.
Everyone has treated it like it’s the oddest thing to do, and they keep mentioning it- like it’s never happened and laughing (they ask you many times to check you haven’t eaten before surgery so it keeps coming up).
I get him. He LOVES food, feels dizzy easily. Also the operation was delayed 4 hours so I think it was quite a prudent choice- otherwise he wouldn’t have eaten since 6pm. I know people do fast, but he’s a teenage boy and they really don’t tend to like it.

We usually woke patients up for an early breakfast in these cases. Quite normal!

Get well soon to him - my 19-y-o did exactly the same a few weeks back, and got up at the crack of dawn to have a good breakfast before his op.

Eating right before going nil by mouth before surgery isn't odd, but waking up at 3:30am to "cook a small meal" is probably what they're finding odd.

I have had many surgery's under GA and if the cut off is any earlier than about 6am then I just make sure I drink lots all through the day before, have dinner a bit later and then an extra protein based snack just before bed to fill up and then just eat nothing from when I get up. If it's 6am onwards then I will set an alarm and eat something before the cut off but it will either be something requiring no preparation or a quick meal (eg fruit, toast, porridge, peanut butter and apples) I'm not about to start cooking in the early hours just because I can't eat for one morning.

My teenager would have done the same.

I don't think its unusual.

It's not that weird. I've had 2 planned CSs and got up early enough to eat. It was about 5.30 in my case and I had cereal and toast but it's not a big leap to do what your DS did. People fasting for Ramadan certainly do.

Anaesthetist. Most Don't but you're allowed up to 6h before

I had a morbidly morbidly obese 8yo (nearly 90kg) that sadly amused me when she said last ate at 2am..I joked saying that's a funny time to eat. She replied they said I could eat till 2am so I set my alarm for cookies. Kinda explained the bmi

We always do this in our family and so do my husbands! I get up and eat before fasting at Ramadan and no one seems to find that odd?! Sensible chap, hope he's recovered soon.

This is reminding me of NCT classes! I remember our teacher saying if you're booked in for an elective section, you should work out when you can have your last meal and do it, because they're sometimes 'bumped' for other surgeries and you might be gnawing your hand off by the time they get to you!

That’s a little disingenuous, he didn’t eat between 3:30am and around 4:30pm so he clearly can go for ‘one morning’. 13 hours isn’t ‘can’t go one morning is it?’

The night before my C-section the nurse woke me at midnight to give me tea and toast too.

He’s 5ft 2 and just shy of 37kg so I’m not worried he made a health small meal at an unusual time as a one off, he’s not stuffing down sugar. A protein (egg) and carbs was sensible

That’s hilarious! Totally what my son would do. Well probably not the cooking but certainly the eating. That’s great your DS can cook. Hope his op went well.

If they fast for Ramadan then you are completely used to teens eating at odd hours!! How’s it dramatic to adjust your eating for non-religious reasons, but not repeatedly for relief reasons??? He fasted 13 hours, a reasonable Ramadan fast, and like many all who fast in the holy time he adjusted his mealtimes

the last time I had a GA, I had to be there at 10.30, but I was last on the operating list so sat around until 5pm - then afterwards, the ward said I was too late for a meal, they only had sandwiches but I couldn't have one because I could only have soft food.
I said I'd go & get something from the M&S across the road, so they relented on the sandwich if I didn't eat the crusts.
It was the softest pappiest white bread you can imagine - not exactly a good chewy sourdough. Breakfast was foul, so I checked out the next morning - they wanted me to wait and be cleared by the pharmacist, but I'd not been prescribed any medication.

If I'd not made a fuss about the sandwich it would have been about 30 hours without food. Madness.

No, not weird at all.
my cut off was 10pm so I made sure I ate a small meal at 9 pm. Procedure was scheduled for 9 am but I knew I could be waiting around for hours and a rumbling tummy would have compounded the misery.
Sensible planning on your ds part.

I would have done exactly the same thing!

Don’t see it as being odd at all if he knew he would be hungry , I personally would wouldn’t have bothered with it as I hate my sleep being disturbed ( find it so difficult to get to sleep in the first place) but I’m not a growing teenage boy

My DH, when he was a teen, ate four meals and two large snacks a day and sometimes had snacks in between the main course and pudding because the meals that suited everyone else in his family were just not enough for him. He once fainted in PE when he’d skipped lunch to get something done. He was skinny as rake and growing at the rate of an inch a month. He would have woken up and cooked a not-so-small meal if he’d been in your son’s shoes, OP!

I remember having to do a fasting blood test when I was pregnant and feeling really faint just before it, wishing I’d eaten as close to the cut off time as possible. When your metabolism is running on overdrive it can be an issue to go for half a day or more without food and when you’ve had one or two experiences of feeling faint because you haven’t eaten for 12 hours you might be more inclined to plan a meal as close to the cut off as possible.

But I see why people find it amusing. My metabolism is very efficient now, I could easily go a whole day without food without feeling faint (though I’d be pretty darn hungry!). The idea of cooking a meal in the small hours would not occur to me.

I had surgery last year and had an extra meal just before bed and a snack just before the cut off. Very sensible when you can be waiting all day to be taken to theatre.

I had an adverse reaction years ago due to dehydration.
I was in at 6:30am, then bumped to the afternoon. I went in at 7:30pm
They had us sit in this boiling hot tv room, it was airless and so so hot. Maybe without the heat it would have been fine, but it was dizzying.
I got more and more dehydrated, and no sips were allowed it kept being ‘wait’ (they had a 2 hour lunch break in surgery time plus I wasn’t going to be first in the afternoon, yet they said no water.
I was so dehydrated and rub down I had a reaction to the GA, had to have fluids, my heart rate was up and I ended up staying the night over it. For a really minor thing

He's a teenager. Nothing teenage boys do would surprise me. My son would probably do the same 😂

Very sensible. They often delay you and it’s miserable being stressed waiting for Op and starving aswell.

Usually it's a light breakfast but guess it's ok that teenagers for you !

@jolaylasofia its much much weirder that your teen starved themselves for religious reasons than the OPs son eating in the middle of the night. At least OPs son had to go without eating for a valid reason

Wow, that's considered unusual by people?

Not to me, mine or the people I know. I have gotten up to eat about 45 minutes before a fast begins and did so for all three of my most recent operations and i am betting I did for the others too. I have fixed food for my DH 45 minutes before his fast, my Mom (RIP) before hers, etc. People I know have also done this, most because it's usual for schedules to go awry and because many people know that right after GA/surgery, eating is not always fun.

Good for your DS to think logically and using common sense.