Adult Patients

Most prescription medications should be continued on the day of your surgery with a small sip of water.

It is essential that you take any anti-arrhythmics, beta-blockers, acid-reflux reducers, or inhalers on the day of your surgery. Please do not skip them.

Hold any vitamins or natural supplements on the day of your surgery.

Please work with us on adjusting any insulin or anti-hyperglycemics. Typically we will reduce the dose of long acting and sliding scale insulin in half starting the evening before the procedure. Please bring your glucometer if you are diabetic. Oral antihyperglycemics will be skipped in the morning if fasting.

Blood thinners will need to be stopped or maintained on an individual basis. Please communicate with the surgeon and anesthetic provider to determine the safest way forward.

All injectable GLP-1 receptor meds (ozembic, semaglutide) need to be stopped at least two weeks prior to sedation to prevent the risk of aspiration.

You may work the day following your surgery.

You may drive the day following your surgery as long as you are not on any narcotic pain medications.

Anesthesia dulls our natural reflexes to decrease pain during a surgical procedure. It also dulls our gag reflex, which protects our lungs from foreign bodies entering our lungs. If you eat prior to the procedure there is a very high risk that you will throw-up and the emesis will enter into your lungs. This is called aspiration. It can be life-threatening. It is not worth the risk to eat prior to your procedure. Please follow established guidelines for your safety.

Unless there is a surgical contraindication, you may eat at any point after the procedure. You will receive multiple types of antiemetics during your procedure to decrease your risk of nausea; however, we recommend starting with soft foods and going slowly to help prevent nausea. We highly recommend plenty of fluids.

You may eat any foods that sound appetizing to you. We recommend soft foods and plenty of fluids. Soft foods include soups, breads, rice, yogurts, and puddings.

We would prefer you have a trusted individual take you home. Although you may feel that you are totally aware, the effects of anesthesia will affect your judgment. We do not want anyone to take advantage of a patient in this state.

Unless directed by your surgeon, you should complete the entire round of antibiotics.

There will be some mild side effects from the anesthesia. You may feel dizzy, light-headed, or in a dream-like state for a couple of hours after the anesthetic. Some individuals are more sensitive to medication than others. We avoid any narcotics that may slow down the GI tract and try to keep the anesthetic simple and streamlined to avoid as many side effects as possible.

You will not be intubated, except in an emergency. We aim to provide a safe anesthetic in the least invasive manner possible.

The anesthesia provider is in contact with the patient the whole time. The provider may step out to check on a patient in recovery, but will be within hearing distance of monitors and alarms throughout the case.

Just as family members are not allowed in the operating room in a hospital setting, family members are not allowed in the surgical area in an office setting. We want our entire focus to be on the patient. We have found that family members in the surgical area only distract from the safety of the patient.

The anesthesia is technically in your system for many hours; however, you will feel back to normal within 1-2 hours after finishing your procedure. Colloquially, we say that you will feel the effects of the anesthesia for as long as you were under anesthesia.

We start anesthesia billing at the time we start an IV and finish when the patient is stable on monitor in recovery (typically five minutes after finishing the procedure). In pediatric patients, we will start billing at the time we give any injection until they are in recovery on monitor. We do not charge for pre-op or post-op time.

We do not bill insurance. We require payment on the day of service. We will give you an itemized bill with all the information required for you to submit the bill to your medical and or dental insurance seeking reimbursement.

We use many medications to make the anesthetic safe and as pleasant as possible when waking up. We will give a combination of antiemetics, anti-inflammatories, and pain relievers along with the anesthetic medication. The anesthesia is typically propofol and dexmedetomidine.

We give multiple types of anti-nausea medication to every patient every time unless there is a contraindication. We also avoid inhalational anesthetics and narcotics which increase the risk of nausea.

Post op pain control will be coordinated between the patient and the surgical provider. We will provide potent pain medication through your IV during the procedure.

With very rare exceptions that will be discussed with individual patients, you will be all the way asleep during the procedure. You will not be aware of anything that is happening. That is why we are here. To keep you comfortable and safe.

We have a lot of clinical experience treating thousands of patients. There are many things we observe to verify you are comfortable; including monitors and physical markers such as movement.

You will not remember anything from the case. Our anesthetics provide powerful pain control and amnesia. If there is a special situation when you will need to be aware during the procedure, we will discuss it with you prior to the surgery.

Awareness under anesthesia is a common concern for many people but it is an incredibly rare event that typically happens during a trauma situation, emergency cesarean delivery, and open heart surgery. We are with you during the whole procedure and will keep you safe and comfortable during your procedure.

We have all the standard monitoring in the office that we would have in a hospital setting and as required by our safety and professional organizations. We will monitor your heart, blood pressure, oxygen, end tidal CO2, respiratory rate, and temperature in every situation.