Going under the knife for the first time... (1 Viewer)

[Andrew_Sch]

As the thread title indicates, I'm going to be undergoing my first surgical procedure next week to remove a cyst near my butt. It's really no big deal, just an outpatient procedure, but being as this is my first time having any type of surgery, I'm still a bit nervous. Offer me some encouragement, if you please.:frowning:

 

[Jason Seaver]

If it's a pilonidal, let me just say from experience that you won't feel a thing and that it's totally worth it, especially vs. not being able to stand, sit, or lie down without discomfort.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Yeah Jason, you hit the nail on the head, thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

The thing that really bugs me is that I have to be at the hospital at 6:30 am...ugh. They probably won't need to put me to sleep, I'll just fall asleep anyway.

 

[Aurel Savin]

The best thing about surgery is the anasthesia
Try to consciouls stay awake while they make you count backwards ... you are out like a log after 3 seconds.
Which always made me wonder ...
What kind of sleep do you go into under anasthesia?
I know it's not "regular" sleep, because if anybody was to cut into you, you would wake up right away ... let alone someone trying to perform heart surgery.
Anybody have any insight on this ... on how come you do not feel or respond o anything during this "sleep"???
BTW: Andrew ... you will be fine. Sounds like the end result will save you a lot of discomfort.

 

[Jason Seaver]

If it's like mine, they won't actually knock you out, but you'll be pretty dopey anyway. I was pretty out of it.

And I have no idea why these things are always scheduled for early morning, other than making sure the restaurants are open when the patient's head clears and he's starving from not being able to eat anything for 24 hours.

 

[Jefferson]

It was a little stressful for me, too, the first time I experienced it. But, the actual surgery was far less scary than the stress I put on myself about it. You'll be fine. Best wishes. See, I resisted saying "Bottoms up"

 

[Rain]

I had a perianal abscess once. Hurt like the Dickens.
It was drained once, but recurred, so I had to have a minor surgical procedure done. They wanted to knock me out, but I'm not fond of general anaethetic, so I insisted on local.
It was no biggie at all. I may have annoyed the doctors a bit as I kept making jokes throughout the procedure.
You'll be fine.

 

[Mike Broadman]

There are two awful things about surgery:

1. Anasthesia
After the surgery, the after effects can be very annoying: nausea, dizziness, etc. How bad it is depends on your general constitution and how hard they hit you.

2. Recovery
This depends on what surgery it is.

On the bright side, you get people taking care of you and a couple days off work of watching DVDs.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Rain, I'm going your route and just getting the local, I'm a little iffy about general with the possibility of complications and all that jazz. Jason, do you mean to say that I won't be able to eat for 24 hours before the surgery, cause I just don't think I could deal with that.:frowning:

 

[Jason Seaver]

Maybe; you'll have to ask the doctor. It's been a while (and I've had other exams in the area which I may be confusing it with), but the docs wanted my colon empty because the anesthetic can cause it to, um, relax.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I was put under for my hernia surgery.. that was pretty exciting. They gave me a shot and said, "your eyesight might get a little blurry". Well, suddenly it felt like one eye was looking up and the other was looking down then I was out.

Then, the next thing I know I am waking up in a lot of pain. But the after sugery pain killers were fun too.

The reason they don't want you to eat prior to general is if you have a reaction to the drugs, there is a chance for aspiratic pneumonia.

 

[alan halvorson]

Way back when I was a kid, maybe 5-6 years old, I smashed one of my fingernails (doing stupid kid stuff). I refused to let my dad pull my nail off (with a pliers!), so they took me to the hospital where the put me under with ether. You know those cartoon characters that see spinning spirals after being hit. That's exactly what I saw.

 

[Leila Dougan]

Usually they only make you fast if you are given general anesthesia. If its local only, then you can eat, provided they aren't operating on a portion of the digestive tract or something else that requires fasting.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

You know those cartoon characters that see spinning spirals after being hit. That's exactly what I saw.

Wow, that general anesthesia (sp?) isn't sounding too bad.

 

[Michael*K]

A friend of mine had one of those abscesses taken care of and he said it was no sweat. Like you, the stress leading up to the surgery was worse than the surgery itself. Best of luck.

 

[Paul Wu]

Wow, I'm going under this Friday, just a nose job to improve my breathing. Going to be getting a general, so no eating before. Got lots of DVDs lined up to watch the following week.

 

[Michael*K]

How did the surgery go? My friend had this procedure done for the second time on Saturday and they didn't knock him out. He got an epidural.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

My procedure went fine, thanks for asking. I didn't feel a thing, and the wound is healing up pretty nicely.

 

[Francois Caron]

I had my appendix removed when I was seventeen. It was very close to rupturing so the operation was an emergency procedure. Everything went very well and I was out of the hospital four days later with only a sore stomach.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me bring home a sample of the anesthetic. Man that felt good!