General anaesthetic

[purplemachine]

Hi

In a couple of weeks I am getting a bladder biopsy under GA. I'm told it is a 10 minute procedure so it will be a very short anaesthetic. Just wondering how long I can expect to be in hospital. I have to be in at 7am so I'm near the start of the list. I know it depends on many factors and how I react to the GA but just wondering what peoples experience of short GAs are?

Thank you

Hi there, last year i had a GA for a short gynacolgical proceedure - proceedure itself done in under 30 mins (hysteroscopy and cone biopsy of cervix). I went into hospital at 7am, into theatre around 10.30am and was home by 2pm (short 15 min drive to hospital). I felt fine after the GA, assuming because it was a small dose and I wasn't under for long). Later last year I had a GA for a radical hysterectomy and lymph node removal and was in theatre for four hours. Coming round from that GA was obviously much harder and it took me around 5 hours before I even began to feel able to speak and think. Stayed overnight for that one.

I hope that helps, wishing you well with the proceedure: if all goes well, as I am sure it will, you will come round and be out very quickly.

There is also this thread going at the moment in AIBU although most of the discussion is about longer proceedures and so much bigger doses of GA - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4443824-to-ask-you-to-explain-what-general-anaesthesia-is-like?pg=2

Thank you so much for your response. I'm hoping that will be the case with me too but you never know with these things. Did you feel any effects of the GA in the next couple of days or were you up and about as normal?

If you’re really worried about GA it’s a procedure that can usually be done with spinal anaesthetic instead.

I had a hysteroscopy with a GA and was also in for 7am and first on the list. I was back in my room from theatre in an hour so wasn't under for too long. I didn't go home until about 4pm but that was mainly because I had to wait for an x-ray and the results of that to come back. A lot will depend on if you need a prescription or follow-up appointment booking, as these things can all take time if someone else is needed to arrange them. I felt absolutely fine after that procedure, I'd have happily gone home on my own (not driving) but they were insistent that someone picked me up and stayed with me for 24hrs (I didn't tell them we got walked part way and then got the bus home!!).

I used to work as a staff nurse on a surgical ward. How a GA affects you is very individual. We used to have a lot of Day Case admissions, where the person should have gone home but was too knocked out to do so. You’ll probably be fine after such a short procedure but you never know. Good luck.

They generally tell everyone to arrive at that time so they can do obs and anaesthetist can see all patients before starting.

I was in at 7am once with several other patients. I was seen first and was back on the ward waiting for discharge and, around 1pm, a woman was loudly complaining that her husband was still waiting for his procedure and asking how long it was going to be because ‘he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink so he’s starving’ poor little lamb

I didn’t actually get discharged until just after 5pm!