Afternoon day surgery, worried he will be sent home too soon

[elliejjtiny]

Ds4 (aged 12) is having day surgery next week at a hospital over an hours drive away to remove a cyst, operation will be about 1.5 hours long. He tends to vomit a lot after operations, especially ones longer than 30 minutes or so. He is on the afternoon list which i thought would be more civilised than the usual 6am start but now I'm worried that he will be sent home still sleepy and vomiting because the day surgery ward is closing, which has happened before at our local hospital. The last time he had an operation it was much quicker than this one (he was having teeth pulled out) and he was on the morning list. He ended up staying until 4pm because he was vomiting and wobbly on his feet.

Of course it's on the day when we have to be in lots of places at once for the other dc activities. And my inlaws said they won't help pick us up if it's between 5 and 10pm because they want to go to their bible study group. The hospital is huge so I'm worried i will have to somehow get a half asleep, vomiting child down endless corridors and then wait with him in the cafe for a long time for dh to pick us up.

Surely theyd keep him longer if he was that sick? Poor soul. Does the main hospital have a children’s hospital attached they could just move him to recover in? I think I’d refuse to leave if he was that sick tbh.

With regard to your in laws, it’s ironic that a bible, the book which promotes love kindness and helping one another, is the excuse they use to not help. God sees them. God knows it all……

They will keep him in overnight if they have any concerns

Sorry to hear of his health problems.
put your ils out of your head - I had similar ils it was their loss in the end.
Re the other dc’s activities - your ds4 needs to be the priority on that day. Obviously we don’t know their ages/abilities and what the activities are so some of these suggestions may not work.
Can they miss the activities as a one off?
Can they all stay together at home if they are older teens- perhaps ordering pizza in?
Can they transport themselves home or with a friend and you repay the favour another time?

When I worked on a day case ward, the afternoon shift worked until 9. Any patients looking like they weren’t fit to go home would be transferred to a ward for an overnight stay. We would never send anyone home sleepy or vomiting.

As an aside, we had to evacuate all the patients into the car park one afternoon as we had a fire alarm go off. When a man’s wife came to collect him later, the first thing he said was “I woke up in the car park” to which she replied, reassuringly “of course you did, dear”. Still makes me chuckle.

Take an overnight bag with you just incase (we once stayed overnight in these circumstances).
At the hospital we go to they usually do the list in age order (so youngest to eldest) however when they find out dc3 is a nightmare after surgery they usually put her first so she has more time to come round so might be worth mentioning.

Thank you. Operation has been rescheduled for next month. Other dc are too young to be left home alone. Little one can not do his club that evening but older one needs to stay late at college that day. It's reassuring that he will be allowed to stay overnight if he is still sleepy and vomiting.