Have you ever had surgery...?

[Suki]

As in, have had to have it.

Tooth removal procedures don't count.

I'm guessing some people here have had their appendix removed. How did that feel? How was your experience with anesthesia, the whole breathing in a little gas and falling asleep...? Is that really all? You breathe in the gas and next thing you know you're waking up and surgery's over? I'd be all nervous and they'd probably have to tie me up and hold the mask against my face. The idea of losing consciousness and having my flesh cut open just... gives me the creeps.

Did you get to see the inside of the OR? Mmh. I've been seeing a lot of Grey's Anatomy lately and it's probably gotten to my head. To a point where I was wishing there'd be something wrong with me so that I'd get to have surgeons play with my insides. I know. Sounds creepy xD But nah, actually I freak out everytime I get a little pain on the side of the abdomen and I'm all like "Geez, this is it. The long-feared day finally arrives. My appendix's burst and I'm gonna have to have surgery" xD I'm paranoid like that... but for real, it scares the living crap out of me, so just in case I find myself having to have surgery sometime in the future, I wanna know how it went for you all.

[Nyororin]

I have had an emergency c-section, early enough in the pregnancy (I wasn`t even showing yet...) that it was nothing like the typical procedure and more like an abdominal surgery.

I was supposed to be put to sleep via IV, but I have a circulatory issue where my veins tend to clamp shut when over stimulated (just the type of thing that putting an IV in does) so it was impossible to get one in. I was put to sleep with gas.

In my case, I did NOT just go to sleep then magically wake up when it was over.
The initial "going to sleep" was mildly unpleasant, very close to fainting - just smelling much worse. It was like the way it feels when you lean over for too long then stand up too quickly, only instead of getting better as time passed, it got worse and worse. First sound sort of cut out, then there was a sensation of falling backward... And I closed my eyes. I really did not like the situation, was very very scared, and as I have trauma and phobia issues related to IVs (and had just spent 30 minutes having them try close to 20 times all over my body to get one in...) I wanted nothing more than to escape. Being put to sleep was an incredibly welcome relief and I definitely didn`t try to resist or stay awake.
I am fairly certain that from then until the surgery started about 5 minutes later that I was "asleep", and maybe even dreaming.

I was aware of when I was cut. It didn`t hurt, but was very cold. The incision was sort of like having an icicle slowly moved over my skin. I was "out" as far as the anesthesia was concerned, but was aware enough to know what the icy cold line advancing down from my belly button was... And to feel sheer terror and nausea, even if there was no pain. I was horrified that I would wake up more and that the pain would come. Apparently something indicated to them that I was conscious at some level, and I was asked if I could hear them - I did my best to answer that I did, and they either increased the gas or did something else.

The next thing I was aware of was a horrible pulling sensation - again, no pain, just the horrible knowledge that they were messing with my innards. This time I could tell they`d taken the gas mask off of me, and I was breathing clear fresh air. I was horrified again that I`d wake up, and that every breath brought me closer to consciousness and pain... So I held my breath, they noticed, again I was spoken to, answered, and the gas came back.

When I next started waking up it HURT. First there was a dull thudding pain, and then they put a catheter in and I woke up screaming. The pain from that was worse than the thudding pain from the wound.
I was aware that time had passed - not how much, but there were enough moments of almost-consciousness that remained in memory to make it clear that I hadn`t just been sleeping. (In reality, about 25 minutes had passed from start to catheter)

I didn`t see the inside of the OR. I was given gas in the prep room, and the next time I actually opened my eyes was in my hospital room. I do know that the OR felt absolutely freezing - there was a difference in temperature between it and the other rooms/halls around it.

So... Anyway, gas then waking up certainly wasn`t "it" in my case - but it didn`t hurt while they were actually doing stuff. But then again, I tend to be very strong when it comes to anesthesia of all types. An example, I had to have a termination of a borderline ectopic pregnancy - I was given a normal dose of sedative which did put me to sleep very quickly (count to 20 - at about 12 it was too much work to continue), but I woke up in about 10 minutes. They`d expected it to at least be 30, and had a room set aside for 2 hours as that was the normal time from the end of the procedure to "safe to go home" stage. I was ready to leave about 5 minutes after waking up, and passed the tests they gave to check.

[RobinMask]

Post Deleted.

[JasonTakeshi]

I had local anesthesia on my left side chest (skin correction from a car accident, no big deal) and I was talking about football with my surgeon while I was having surgery. I didn't feel pain so it was no big deal (appart from the initial phase when he said I would have to use an enema - Which he was obviously joking)

[TalnSG]

Surgery, yes, more than I would have liked to over the years - tonsils, jaw, wrist, rotator cuff .... etc.

Yes, its really just falling asleep. Depending on your medical condition and the anesthetist, you may even be asleep before the they wheel you into the OR and start the gas. Sometimes the preliminary meds will knock you out for that nervous first part. Other times, you may be fully awake to get a view of the OR and the crew to work on you. If so, you'll probably be to cold to be focused on much else. Being lifted on to the table can even be a brief entertainment.

Coming out of it is variable. You may wake up slowly in your hospital bed and go right back to sleep (used to be me). Or you could be like my brother who was wide awake and fighting the orderly to get off the gurney and get food on the way back to his room. If you have medical issues with anethesia (me) you will probably be brought fully concious very quickly - within minutes of them rolling you from the OR to Recovery. Not too thrilling scenery there, but they will usually discuss that with you, so you know to expect it. You also may come to and remember having some very wierd dreams. Last time they put me under I dreamt my surgeon was playing baseball in Puerto Rico. He said I asked him the score at one point when they were bringing me out of the anesthesia. I have no idea where any fo that came from - I don't like baseball, he's not even remotely hispanic .... just a crazy, drug-induced dream.

Basically, an appendectomy is not something to take lightly, but not something to panic over either. The surgery is usually pretty basic and getting better and quicker all the time.

Now for the down side. The muscles and stitches are going to be sore for a while. I have never known anyone to say they were anything else. And whatever you THINK you can do physically without bothering the site, pay attention to your doc and don't push it. You don't want them to have to open you back up and repair a tear. In 10th grade my best friend decided he could play tag while the stitches were healing. He spent that night back in the OR and really hurting the next few days.

[evanny]

well. when i was just born i almost died since i had rare infection in my legs. it could have been that i would have to stretch my left leg for rest of my life since it wouldn't grow normally... but i was ok and grew up big and strong and was asked in my later years to go to hospital to show other mothers that there is a chance for everything to work out. now im 6.3 and 83kg athletic and very healthy and for them that was something to be encouraged by.

then was a time when a shelf fell on my head. i remember looking in the mirror and seeing blood just flooding out of my head all over my face. i was 11 years old and no one was at home.i renumber rushing in panic on the street screaming. when they took me to the hospital they gave me a local anaesthesia. felt weird having metal wires sown in your head. felt funny so i started telling anecdotes to my surgeon and he had to stop for a while since he started laughing and couldn't continue.

last thing was when i broke my elbow when falling of a bike. at first it just hurt and my head started playing jokes since i had concision also. i renumber my vision blurred and everything i saw was in a very bright golden colour. rather scary feeling - felt like i was about to go blind. than i got my arm fixed up and when they decided to take off gyps from my arm i almost threw up from the pain since it hadn't been moved for months and now suddenly muscles had to hold it's weight. probably the worst pain and nausea combined that i've ever experienced in my life.

that's about it... thank god i don't have nightmarish stories like Nyorin.

[spicytuna]

I took a 60m leader fall while rock climbing when the rock on the mountain face I was on came crumbling down.

There I was, dangling off the face of a 2600m mountain. My left wrist snapped in half and the ulna in my right arm was sticking out of my forearm. The impact I took on my head cracked my helmet and flung it off as I was bleeding from every orifice on my head.

It took 2 hrs before a rescue chopper was able to extract me off the mountain to a parking lot, where yet another helicopter was waiting to fly me 200km to the nearest hospital. Of course my veins had all collapsed by then so I wasn't able to get any pain killers until I was minutes from the hospital - thanks to a small vein on the top side of my uninjured right foot.

From there, I immediately went to get a cat scan for the subdural hematoma I had suffered - followed by several operations on my arms.

Of course by this time, your mind is in survival mode so you aren't thinking about the trivial things... like being naked in front of a team of medics, the type of instruments that they'll be using on you, etc. You're just glad that you're in a place which will lead to better things.

[nobora]

I did have surgery once , back in 6th grade but I didnt get anything removed, more like they cleaned my arm out.
see I was skate boarding over a really bad driveway that had cracks and ant hills and stuff and when i leaned to stop the skateboard i fell on my arm. I broke both the bones on my forearm and doctors said either we clean it or amputate her arm. so they cleaned it and now i got this scar ~

[manganimefan227]

I had the same wanting of being cut open and wering a cordy clear mask. On the first surgery I remember was at age 8 for a simple ear defect. They gave me flavored annestatia gas but I did not like the feel of it. I woke up in my room and watched DisneyI went home the next day. Th evening of the next day I get meninjitis and was rushed to surgery. I had to have two more surgeries regarding a shunt I had as a baby. Both times the nasteata made me feel I could not breathe. like if they'd accidently killed me right then. Then there was the three weeks of recovery, I Was Horrinble! All of the drugs they put me on messed with my brain that much. Havingto "learnto walk" was hard s well.I left with my right ear gone of hearing.


Fourtanetly my latest one was not so bad. This was for scoliosis,. Iwas given a really bad feeling grabe substance then they wheeled me into the OR and put a mask on me which I thought was annestata that was not working... Strangely enough, I wasn't scared I somehow thought the pain of my back being sliced was bearable. Fourtanetly they put the real mask on which felt like uncomfrtable ovrwhelming gas. I was up and out of three days.

IVs are definenetly no picnic.

[Suki]

Geez, Nyororin! Thank God I read other not-so-horrifying stories from the other users, cause after reading yours I wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading anyone else's experience. I swear I got the shivers as I was reading it. Especially the part of being aware when being cut and the whole pulling sensation. You described it so well I could almost feel it in my flesh.

Originally Posted by RobinMask

I've always been terrified of the idea of a c-section, because it seems a lot of the time nowadays they keep you awake (although admitedly numb), and the idea of being awake through surgery terrifies me >_<

Me too. Losing consciousness is terrifying enough, but being half-awake through the whole thing? Geez! Must've been hell for you, Nyororin

As for the problem with getting an IV, that really sucks. I used to be terrified of needles but that is something one gets used to. I have my blood tested every three months or so and I am so used to it I can't even feel the pain anymore. Like the needls goes right in with no pain at all. Like a slight sting. It's pleasant rather than painful. I'm aware this makes me sound like a total junkie -which I'm not- but it's the truth.

Originally Posted by RobinMask

They told me to count backwards from ten, so I did . . . and it's really the most surreal experience. You can never remember what number you count to, and it's like blinking - you close your eyes in one room and open them in another! Or that's how it was with me, lol. I didn't dream, or sleep, just seemed to blink, and hours and hours had passed by in what felt like a second.

Hahah xD So this actually happens, huh? Awsome. Now I want surgery! Really, I'm very curious as to what it feels like. It must be the weirdest feeling, right? And don't you try to like fight the sleepiness off? Cause I'd be willing to get the surgery over with and wanting to wake up to being drugged up on morphine, but at the same time I think I'd try to not give in to the sleepiness, you know? Like a survival instinct kind of thing.

Originally Posted by RobinMask

Because you mentioned the appendix specifically I just want to add it's different for everyone, but most people get warning signs. I had a 'rumbling appendix' or something, where I was in a lot of pain but it hadn't burst, it was just on its way to bursting, so I have a tiny scar and surgery was pretty easy. My father - on the other hand - was on meds for a while and they masked his pain, so he didn't realise he had a problem until his appendix actually burst, at which point he needed emergency surgery, the scar from that is huuuuge. So I guess no two people are ever the same, but generally I think it goes well.

Tiny scars from appendectomies are very cute and sexy. Robin, reading your experience kinda made me wish I had to have mine removed. Surgery went swell, you got a cute scar, anesthesia put you to sleep in no time and you got to get high on morphine x) Did you get giggly too?

Originally Posted by TalnSG

If you have medical issues with anethesia (me) you will probably be brought fully concious very quickly - within minutes of them rolling you from the OR to Recovery. Not too thrilling scenery there, but they will usually discuss that with you, so you know to expect it.

Does it ever happen that you're in the OR, cut open wide, and suddenly you go back to consciousness? I know you can wake up and be slightly aware of things (like it was with Nyororin), but what I mean is not like being dizzy and hearing things here and there, I mean like totally coming back from your sleep and being able to feel the pain from the cut. Can this happen?

Originally Posted by spicytuna

Of course by this time, your mind is in survival mode so you aren't thinking about the trivial things... like being naked in front of a team of medics, the type of instruments that they'll be using on you, etc. You're just glad that you're in a place which will lead to better things.

I know. All you want is to not die so you are in no position to get picky about the anesthesia or panicky over needles.

Yours sounds like a pretty hardcore experience, dude, I'm glad it didn't end badly.