Carolyn,

I tried to e-mail you privately as I was including the name of the
surgeon, but it wasn't accepted.  If you think it would be helpful to
know please e-mail me privately.

I just saw your post on Lactnet about the mother who was told she had to
wean before she could have surgery.  Just in case it helps, I had to have
a hystorectomy when my youngest was 2 1/2 and still breastfeeding.  I had
it at the London Hospital, Whitechapel (before it was the Royal London).
There was no problem about continuing to breastfeed.  About the
anaesthetic,  I was told that as soon as I felt able to see my child I
would be able to breastfeed.  That was actually about 24 hours as I
reacted badly to the anesthetic.  In response to recent enquiries that
I've made on behalf of mothers, most general anesthetics are safe after
about two hours and the only observed effects is that the baby may be
sleepy - an important consideration with a newborn, but unlikely to be
important at 4 months.  I think we  (LLLGB) got the information about
specific named drugs from the Birmingham drugs information centre (I
can't remember the name).

Good Luck for this mother.

Jill Dye