Dd(7) is having general anaesthetic this wekk - any advice please?

[PostmistressMcColl]

She can't have anything to eat on the day after 7.30am. We need to be at the hospital for 12.30pm and have been warned there could be a lot of waiting around (could be 5.30pm even) before she goes into theatre.

My plan for the day is to try to make sure she gets a decent breakfast; I've asked her what she would choose to eat at breakfast time if it could be any meal at all and she says sausages and mash. The daftness of dinner for breakfast might take her mind off things a bit too I hope.

Then she'll go to school for a bit so that the morning is as normal as possible. They know she mustn't eat and I'm going to pick her up just before 11am so that I can give her a drink of water as she can't have anything to drink after 11am.

Then we'll go home, get changed and head to the hospital with lots of activities to try to keep her occupied in the waiting room.

Any advice on managing the wait (plus potential hunger/thirst/worries!) much appreciated. TIA!

When ds was having that at that age I talked to him about what he wanted to do.
His choice was:
Woken at midnight for egg sandwiches.
Then went for a scoot round the estate on his light up scooter.
Then back for a hot chocolate.
Then back to bed.

I bought a favourite book with me to the hospital and a new book and a puzzle book. Also his favourite soft toy and pyjamas.

He didn't actually seem to struggle with the not eating at all, which as he's constantly hungry surprised me, but he had been prepared obviously. He was harder at 3.6yo when he stormed into the hospital with a face like thunder and announced "mummy is trying to starve me to death."

Thank you! Midnight scoot and egg sandwiches sounds great! Dd is often up from 5am so I am confident we can get our sausage and mash in for breakfast - I'll suggest the late night alternative if we need to do this again, I think the more choices she gets the better.
"Mummy is trying to starve me to death" made me laugh out loud :-D

OP Are you definitely sure she's ok to go to school?

I work in this field and we specifically tell parents/ legal guardians pre-op, that they alone must supervise their children in the nil by mouth period. ( Most of our operating sessions are PM, so children are NBM from 7.30am).

On arrival at hospital, any parent that told us their child that has been to school or nursery in the NBM period, would have their op re-scheduled to another day.

You'll make it, but if she is anything like mine - there will definitely be a few moments when she thinks you are starving her.

Two things that might help. When anyone in our family, including two children, have had day surgery our instructions were not to load up at breakfast time? Have a big meal the night before but a light breakfast. Sausage and mash could be too heavy a meal. There may well be different rules etc in different places but it might be worth checking.

Get her to drink a lot the night and morning before. If she could take a couple of water bottles to school and had her drink them in class, I would do that.

While we were waiting I downloaded some TV shows on my Ipad, and a game to play ( rare for me to let them when they were small) and that distracted nicely.

And a hard learned post op tip. Do not give her any chocolate for at least a day after the anaesthetic. Some kids ( mine included) go crazily hyperactive with chocolate added to the residual traces of drugs. I had to ring the surgeon after my 3 year old went bonkers for hours. He was fine, but it was a diffcult few hours trying to keep him quiet.

All that said, I hope it all goes well and she recovers fast.

This is all so helpful, thank you! I will check these things out with the hospital today.

Thanks again all. Her day surgery appointment is tomorrow. Hospital are fine for her to go to school first thing which is great as they're doing a carol concert so a nice distraction (plus I'll be able to watch so I guess personally supervising the nil by mouth to an extent in any case!).
She's had her sausage and mash tonight, fingers crossed she wakes up feeling well and all goes smoothly. Thanks again, much appreciated!

I would also say avoid letting her run round/get excited in the morning or she will burn her breakfast calories quicker. At age 7, you are unlikely to be at the end of the list - my 8 year old went in at 3pm last year but it is obviously luck of the draw on the day. They just tend to take the youngest down first, unless there are other issues, like my ds, who has issues with maintaining blood sugars.

Consider how you will get home. We had one GA where ds2 was sent out only an hour after coming home and trying to get him to the car about half a mile away was interesting to say the least. He certainly wasn't well enough for that size of walk! Fortunately, aged 3 at the time, I was able to carry him and had a friend to carry the bag.

Bring the favourite teddy. Opt for injection over gas if you get the option - it is easier for the, and kinder to watch. My son fought the gas which was hard to see.

Take chocolate for you for while she is under. It will hopefully go quickly, but you may not be able to concentrate on reading and need a different distraction. Once she is back with you, you won't be able to go to the loo without her, so make sure you go during the interlude!

Remember to look after you. It is stressful to put your child under GA so be kind to yourself after. Good luck!

More great advice, thank you. DH is meeting us at the hospital so he/I can then fetch the car as needed. We've been told it's definitely gas she'll have, so I am steeling myself for that. Chocolate (for me) is a great idea, thank you! (Will be sure to eat it all while she's away though to avoid her being too loopy afterwards!)

My Ds is going to have surgery, thanks for the advice on this thread. @PostmistressMcColl how did the surgery go?

DD had gas when that age. They asked for a parent to be in the room to hold her whilst she was put under. DH did it - it was quite distressing.

She was also sick on waking.

But her surgery was a complete success and she was allowed to go home after 6 hours.

My daughter had the gas three times. It wasn't too bad, they put strawberry lipsalve in the mask and told her a story. They did warn me she might twitch and roll her eyes as she went off but she didn't really. I held her as well and popped her on the table. Hope the op went ok. Keeping her busy sounds sensible. Each time we've done it it's been an early morning and we've been first on the list and in by 8.30am so she didn't have time to think about being hungry. Just left it to the last possible moment to get her out of bed and bundle her into the car.