FAQ

Generally speaking, we ask that you not eat past 11 pm the day before your surgery. You can only drink water (12 oz) up to 3 hours prior to your scheduled surgery. There are always a few exceptions. You will be contacted with specific eating and drinking instructions. Please follow them closely as the number one reason for a surgery to be canceled is non-compliance with eating / drinking instructions.

Infants and Toddlers - 4 hour restriction on breast milk and 6 hour restriction on formula.

You will be asked to fill out a “medical passport.” We will ask for a list of medications, allergies and medical issues by organ systems. Once we have this we can tailor the anesthetic to your specific needs. Sometimes we may ask for more information from you or go directly to your treating physicians. It takes a little time to fill out, but it ensures we can deliver you the safest possible anesthetic.

Once we review your medical passport, you will be contacted and instructed on what medicines to hold or take leading up to your surgery. Some surgeons may also give you additional instructions.

In general...

Inhalers - stay on your normal schedule and bring them with you. Improved air exchange will only help.

ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers i.e Losartan) or ACE inhibitors (i.e Lisinopril, Captopril) to treat hypertension - please do not take the morning of surgery.

Blood Thinners - ask your prescribing physician on when to stop.

Diuretics “water pills” - do not take the day of surgery.

Herbal Supplements (Ginseng, Garlic, Ginkgo, St. John’s wart, Kava…) - It’s generally best to hold a week before surgery as they may increase bleeding risks.

Insulin - Long acting take ½ dose the night before. Hold the short acting the day of surgery, as you will be asked to skip your meal. Check your blood sugar frequently leading up to arrival time to ensure no major BGL swings. If your blood glucose is well outside normal limits the morning of surgery, please notify us and we can take collective action.

Type II diabetes medications - Please click HERE from the American Society of Anesthesiologists

Patients are on blood thinners for a variety of reasons (i.e. clotting disorder, hx of stroke, abnormal heart rhythms…) and blood thinners have a variety of therapeutic windows. It is generally best to ask your prescribing MD how many days to hold the blood thinner prior to surgery. We can intervene and provide guidelines if necessary.

If you are aware of the severity of OSA (i.e. mild, moderate, or severe) that can be helpful in guiding your care the day of surgery. Please bring your CPAP machine with you the day of surgery.

We are in network with all major commercial insurers. As clinicians, we are dedicated to treating patients and have outsourced our billing to MedAc. Please see the billing tab above for contact and payment information. They can help answer more specific questions. We know healthcare transparency is challenging and we try to help as much as we can.

If you are a cash payor, our business administrator will contact you prior to your surgery for payment.

We are well versed in providing multiple anesthetic modalities. Depending on the surgery or procedure we can deliver general, regional, local anesthetics, moderate to deep sedation and neuraxial (spinal anesthesia). Your Anesthesiologist will carefully review your history and decide which option is likely to give you the best outcome while maintaining optimal surgical conditions.

Yes. You will receive multi-modal intravenous pain medicine while under anesthesia. If you are still uncomfortable in recovery, we can quickly get your pain under control with additional intravenous pain medicines. After you leave the surgery center, you will have a prescription from the surgeon’s office to fill for additional oral pain medications to be taken at the prescribed dose and frequency at home.

Yes. Once you arrive, get checked in and have an intravenous line; we can give you medicine that will mitigate the stress and anxiety of the day.

It’s possible. Not everyone does, but we do give all patients some anti-nausea medicine. If you have other risk factors for increased nausea, we can give you additional medicines to help.