Before G-tube surgery

Clinic visit before surgery

Your visit will be on Level 4 of the Children's Pavilion, pod E.
We understand that this is not an easy decision to make for your child and you may have serious concerns that must be addressed before deciding on whether to proceed with the surgery.
Reviewing the checklist below before the clinic visit will help our discussion about the G-tube.
We recommend you review the G-tube Q& A page before the visit to address some of the concerns that you may have.
Please write down any additional questions that you may have and our staff will answer them during the clinic visit.

After your initial clinic visit, you will work with your care team to obtain a nutrition plan with a nutritionist, feeding pump, necessary G-tube supplies (as mentioned at the end of G-tube care page) and home health agency. Please call the clinic at 804-828-3500 to help with these arrangements.
These requirements must be met or arranged for 1 week before the day of surgery. *If they are not met or arranged, please make sure to give us a call at 804-828-3500.
Have you reviewed these pages? General G-tube Q&A, At Home after Surgery, G-tube care, Nutrition, Medications, Troubleshooting and FAQs
After you review the above pages, please take this G-tube quiz. This will help us prepare you for the upcoming surgery.

Meal restriction before surgery

Your child should stop eating 6 hours before the surgery. Ideally, your child will stay hydrated by drinking water or other clear liquids such as apple juice and Gatorade up to 2 hours before surgery. The time of your child's operation should be provided to you to guide these restrictions, but is subject to change.

Illness before surgery

Please let us know immediately if your child sick. This may have a major impact on surgery and we may need to reschedule it for another time when your child feels better. Please call 804-828-3500. If it's after-hours before the day of surgery, you may wait until the morning to call us or, if urgent, please head to the nearest emergency room or call 911. However, if it's a mild illness, your child can be evaluated before surgery and we may still be able to proceed.

Location of surgery

Please go to the Surgery Day page to review where your child needs to go for surgery.