Pre-surgery experience question

Kind of an off the wall question, but perhaps someone has some perspective...I had surgery to have tubes put in my ears, and also removed back in the late 1970s. In at least one of the instances I remember having to lay down on my stomach for what I was told was a shot to help keep my mouth dry during the surgical procedure. The reason it stands out is that I remember it being quick and not really being able to feel anything (quite different than what I was used to when getting shots in my butt). I'm wondering what the medication might have been or if they did something else - e.g., gave me some sort of rectal anaesthesia. I was accustomed to having my temperature taken rectally so I would have recognized that experience (surprisingly it wasn't done that way in the hospital - only at home).Any thoughts are welcome.

I can't speak for the late 1970s, but in the 1960s when I worked in operating rooms, a very common pre-anesthetic cocktail, consisted of three separate injections -- atropine sulfate, scopalomine, nembutal (or pentobarbital). The atropine sulfate decreases secretions (it has also been employed in dentistry), so it is possible that atropine was what you received.

Hey thanks @srg. I suspect that was it. Any surgeries I've had since then involved IVs so presumably if they gave atropine it would have been part of that cocktail. I don't think I received any IV treatment for the ear tubes since it's a quick procedure...I definitely remember the mask and falling asleep, but I don't remember waking with an IV and definitely didn't get one before the surgery.

I had to have tubes put into my ears too at the age of 4 myself. I do remember the surgery prep med shots that they gave me and when they took the effect on me, I did not know what was going on. I do remember being placed in a red wagon and being transported into a room and due to the meds, I don't recall much but, I do remember waking up asking where the red wagon went because I remember riding in the red wagon and I was in the dark.