Sedated for real medical procedure

@kristens that sounds lovely, hope it was pain free x

@anng I love the fantasy idea of sedation, was it not pleasant?

I refuse to be sedated. I'm an ex-drunk, and Valium + Versed pretty much exactly duplicates an alcoholic blackout. Also, I babble when I'm high. I've been through a colonoscopy and a cystoscopy, and refused anything stronger than a couple of Tylenol III (Tylenol + codeine) pills.

When I was about 4 years old I fractured my arm and was knocked out with ether before the bone was reset and a cast put on. Then as an adult in my late 50's I was given a local spinal anaesthetic before a trans-urethral resection of an enlarged prostate. Recently anaesthetizing eyedrops before 2 cataract surgeries.

13 years ago I was in a accident. My left wrist and both connecting bones were way beyond a simple broken bone, the bones were shattered and in many pieces.

When I was being prepared for surgery I remember the I.V. stand with the needle in my arm, some nurses were around me and then everything seemed to go black and the next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room very tired. I felt like my soul was ripped out of me and put back in. I also had a feeling that something happened during the surgery, however It wasn’t my time to leave and I came back.

A nurse came in and asked me if I had any out of body experience, which even in my condition I thought was extremely odd. She was trying to tell me that something happened to me but was reluctant to tell me directly because she felt It could put her employment in danger. I already knew that something happened. I told her I didn’t remember any out of body experience because I was not interested in sharing anything with her.

For some strange reason 12 years after the surgery and on the very day I had the surgery that I completely forgot about, I had a very vivid dream in the night. I was on the surgery table floating above my body and my left wrist was bloody and bleeding, then I woke up. I don’t know the significance of why on twelfth anniversary of my surgery I had a dream like I had that night.

I had another surgery on the same wrist to repair more broken things a couple of months later and had to be put under again. There were no out of body things that happened. I just felt really sick later after I was awake and barfed and had the dry heaves for a while. I don’t want to ever go under again.

.

I've had five colonoscopies and my wife has had three. For my last and her last, they used propofol and they explained that patients wake up faster with out the rummy and woozy effects of the fentanyl-versed combination that produced so many YouTube videos of people so stoned that they didn't know where they were or who they were or what was happening after their colonoscopy or having wisdom teeth removed.

My wife and I both had knee surgeries a few years back. My wife hates the effects of sedation and so she asked if she could just go with the nerve block, which they do regardless since the sedation with fentanyl and versed is not enough to put you completely under for a knee operation.

The anesthesiologist and the surgeon agreed, but they did set her up with the IV anyway so that if things got bad or my wife panicked, the anesthesiologist could quickly put the sedation meds in the IV line and she would be out within seconds. However, she didn't need it. She stayed awake for the entire surgery and watched it all on the monitor that the surgeon was watching to perform the surgery. At one point, when the surgeon did the micro-fracture procedure in which he pounded holes in the bone to promote cartilage growth (I think that's what the micro-fracture does), the anesthesiologist got ready with the drugs and asked if she was doing okay. She said she could feel the general pounding in her leg and hip because of the movement, but she was pain free and she was enjoying the "movie" so she received no sedation. Due to the blood and gore, the movie was rated PG-13 (Parental Guidance, child under 13 must be accompanied by a parent).

I had my knee surgery a few days later and asked to remain awake and they agreed. And then they put me out. I must have panicked or they didn't see that I had the same resolve to avoid the sedation that my wife provided. Actually, was doing it because she knew she would have a hard time waking up and she didn't like the drugged feeling. I, on the other hand, have no problem waking up and I love and enjoy and embrace the drugged feeling, and I mostly asked about it for the fun of it. I think the surgical team was not interested in providing a personal playground for me. I can't say that I blame the team. If they had filmed my hernia surgery, it would have been rated R-17 (Restricted. Children under 17 must be accompanied by a parent) because it was not only replete had blood and gore, but it also had full frontal nudity with my bits on display for the entire length of the movie.

During my hernia repair in February 1980, I received a spinal block because this was the olden days so they cut me open from my toenails to my tonsils--nope, sorry, make that a five-inch incision, and I was in hospital for four days. Prior to surgery, a male nurse shaved me from my knees to my navel, front and back.

But I digress . . .

During the surgery, I woke up. The spinal block made me numb from my belly button all the way down my legs so I couldn't feel anything except for a little tugging that moved my upper body every so slightly--but no pain. The sedation was just to put me keep me comfortable and unaware and out of it. When I woke up, the anesthesiologist was watching the surgical team repairing the hernia, as he had nothing else better to do. They were having an interesting discussion about somebody's recent golf game. When the anesthesiologist saw me starting to stir, he quickly went to the IV and was about to load me up with more fentanyl and versed, or whatever concoction they used in 1980, but I quickly asked if it would be okay for me to stay awake. He said, sure, and then he even found a mirror with a handle so I could hold it up above the drape and see the blood and gore of the surgery. I couldn't make out much detail because the mirror was maybe only four inches (10 cm) in diameter and the total sight distance with the reflection was approximately 7.043 feet (214.67064 cm).

The anesthesiologist even rummaged in a cabinet and found a Polaroid camera that produced a snapshot within three minutes. He leaned over the drape and snapped a shot of my hernia repair. I told him he was so kind and helpful, could he please send out for a pepperoni pizza. And 20 minutes later, the entire surgical team was chowing down on a tasty pepperoni pizza. Nope, sorry. scratch that. I asked for a pizza, but he said that was a no go.

Like @GillyJ, I love the feeling of being put under anesthesia and fighting to stay awake.

I also love getting nitrous oxide at the dentist because I'm not put under quite so far and I can enjoy the feeling of drifting in and out of awareness.

.

I have been sedated four times. Twice for tooth extraction, once for cardioversion and once for hernia repair. In all four cases I cannot remember anything which happened while I was 'under', although I was assured in all four cases that I was never asleep, but wide awake.

For the cardioversion, the cardiologist said, 'it is normally a one minute procedure, preceded by five minutes putting you to sleep and followed by fifteen minutes waking you up'. When I told him that I thought that you were not actually asleep, he said that he was speaking figuratively.

Reading what others have said, I can see that the experience of coming round while the operation is still in progress is quite normal. It could be that it is only the memory which returns at that point.

@KC_Patient , there’s a good reason for that , aware patients tend to cause delays which means less prefectures , less billable hours and therefore lost money . With sedated patients the average doctor can complete 3,additional procedures a day . So that’s big money incentive