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General Anaesthetic.... Got it on Satuday and 'only a tad' worried.. any good advice?

I have had surgery/general many, many times. The only bad part for me was the recovery. A little barfing, a little not being able to fully wake up... that's about it. Lasts a few hours. If you barf a lot, they'll give you something to stop it.

As for the sore throat from breathing tubes and what not, I only had that happen once. I was comatose for seven days and on a respirator. I sounded like froggy for a couple days. When I awoke from the coma, I remember looking up at these intensely bright lights, trying to move my arms and screaming at the top of my lungs. But no sound came out because there were several tubes down my throat. I had no idea where I was or what happened. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a nurse come around to my IV and inject it with something. Then I was out again. I woke up a couple more times and it took them telling me several times where I was and what happened to me before I could comprehend it. Then the last time I woke up, I didn't have any tubes in me... well just one. I said I had to pee. The nurse said, go ahead... you have a catheter in you. I pulled up the sheets and looked. I was horrified. But even that didn't hurt... then.
 
General anesthesia is pretty much a piece of cake these days. You'll probably get an IV stuck in your arm as soon as you check into the hospital and you'll have it in until you leave. The worst part of anesthesia is waking up in pain in the recovery room as it wears off, though probably not in your case since we're not talking about deep surgery.

The first surgery I had was over 35 years ago and it was different then. The procedure was to prep you with an injection with Sodium Pentathol in the butt. The biggest hypodermic I ever saw, and really painful, but by the time they wheeled me down the hall I was pretty cheerful.

Anyway, don't sweat the GI. Your biggest problem is getting that knee action back.
 
Sdashiki said:
Im curious, what kind of circumstances warrant a nasal intubation? how can positive pressure be maintained in that situation? Clamp the nostrils and mouth?
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Nasotracheal intubation would be done if the patient had a difficult airway, say, a markedly receeding jaw, forward angulation of the larynx .... any situation where the anesthetist or anesthesiologist couldn't see the vocal cords well enough to be assured of getting the tube through them into the trachea. It used to be done routinely in those circumstances, blindly passing the tube through the nose which would then direct it toward the vocal cords. It would typically be done in those circumstance with the patient sedated but awake enough to protect their airway from vomiting. That's rarely done these days in hospitals that have video intubating equipment and anesthetists or anesthesiologists that know how to use it.

Nasotracheal intubation might also be done in some cases of oral surgery.

Whether the "breathing tube" goes in through the mouth or the nose, it ends up in the trachea below the vocal cords and has a balloon on the end that is blown up once positioned correctly, to seal the tube so it doesn't leak under positive pressure once the patient is hooked up to the ventilator.
 
When I had my wisdom teeth out under general anesthetic I'm pretty sure I was nasally intubated because when I woke up my nose was bleeding a little bit. I don't remember it going in so it must have been while I was under
 
I've been on general anesthetic twice - it's great fun. Gives me an excuse to sleep half way through the day...

At least the first time would have been fun if it wasn't for the trainee doctors trying out their giving-people-injections-but-failing-badly techniques on me at least 5 times before the proper doctor finally did a good job of it.

Don't worry - it's better than just getting a jab if anything. As soon as it's done, you go straight to sleep...
 
viccles said:
Seems like most people have the breathing tube put down their throat. I wonder why sometimes they do it through the nose
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I had them down my nasal cavity because they were doing surgery on my mouth and jaw.
 
viccles said:
When I had my wisdom teeth out under general anesthetic I'm pretty sure I was nasally intubated because when I woke up my nose was bleeding a little bit. I don't remember it going in so it must have been while I was under
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Nasal intubation would have been necessary in your case, since the operation was taking place in your mouth!

I've shadowed with Anesthesiologists a number of times, usually they start an IV on you while you are chilling out in the pre-surg area, then the Anesthesiologist comes in, explains the procedure and anesthesia to you, gives you a little dose of (can't remember the name of it) in your IV which starts making you feel relaxed, then the Anesthesiologist or a tech or both will wheel you into the operating room, you'll probably be pretty out of it by the time you get there, if you aren't he'll have you count down from 10 while he pushes the good stuff to put you fully out. Once you're out he/she will intubate you (they do this so they can make absolutely sure that you are staying properly oxygenated), they then will perform the surgery, the anesthesiologist will monitor your vital signs and continue to give you drugs as needed. You'll wake up once the drugs wear off and the anesthesiologist will pull your breathing tube out before this happens, it will feel like you were only asleep for a few minutes but it may well be a few hours. They'll wheel you into the PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit) where they'll monitor you to make sure you aren't having any adverse reactions to the anesthesia as well as making sure that your nausea is under control. After that, they'll wheel you to your room in the hospital, or they'll let you go home, whatever the arrangement was.

It's really cool, and absolutely nothing to worry about. I've had it once, and I came out of it just fine, I got a little violent with the nurses while I was still under the influence (it's all a little hazy to me) but I didn't have any issues to deal with. The nurses just strapped my arms down until I was a little more awake and that was that.

SLC
 
No worries

I'm an Anesthesiologist. There's no need to be concerned about general anesthesia, or any other type of anesthesia, for that matter. New and improved anesthetics hit the market often. Anesthesia is very safe nowadays, especially for young, healthy people.

Actually for a knee arthroscopy, or other short cases, I don't even put a breathing tube down. I use an airway called an LMA, which goes in the back of the mouth, and directs air through the vocal cords into the lungs. Most people don't have a sore throat after surgery. Of course, if it is a longer, more complicated case, or a laproscopic case (a gallbladder, etc.), a breathing tube is necessary.

For most outpatient surgery, I use Propofol, which is a very short acting induction drug (given IV). It is gone in about 7 minutes, and so most people don't wake up with that "groggy" feeling that Pentothal leaves you with. The downside is that "burning" sensation that has been described. (But even that can be prevented with a little lidocaine beforehand.) Combining short acting inhalation agents (gases) with a short acting induction drug gives you a very fast wakeup. Most people having minor surgery are completely awake shortly after the operation. Of course, post op narcotics, etc. can add to the wakeup time. Propofol also helps with nausea, so many people have no problem with it. There are also newer drugs that, when given during the anesthetic, help prevent nausea post op.

I always get a kick out of the "count backwards from 10" bit. I always hear about it, but in 20 years of practice, I've never once asked a patient to do that. Besides, you usually could count all the way down. You just may not REMEMBER doing it.
 
It happenned! Yey!

iJohnHenry said:
Well, I guess the poor lad didn't make it.

The procedure was 4 days ago.

R.I.P. :(
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Haha! Well........ Here I am!

Firstly, Thanks for all the awesome replies people, I felt so much happier about going under the knife having had all the feedback from this thread.

For myself, going under was fine, it was done by IV so I only felt a cold shiver, said to my nurse... "ok, see you on the other side", and then I woke up 2 hours later! I had no side effects what so ever, no feeling sick, nothing. I think the anaesthetic couldn't have been much more nicer... :)

The reason why I haven't got back for 5 days though is..... I cannot walk. Lol. The keyhole surgery on my knee was successful, but, it's left my leg in so much pain it was unbelievable! 4 hours after I woke up, I thought about going for a walk, but at this point, I realized I couldn't bend my leg, move it, and certainly not put any weight on it. Going to the toilet which was litterally just around the corner from my bed took about 10 minutes to get there.

So, they put me on crutches and made me stay the night into Sunday. I was discharged on Sunday, still, not being able to walk, but at least I was home. Every single task from then on was about 10 times more difficult than it had been! Infact, the knee was possible worse than it ever was in the first place.

But, today, five days on, the progress has been phenomenal! If the progress the knee made getting better before the operation was the pace of a slug, this has been the pace of a cheetah! I'm already walking, already off drugs, already got the bandage off, already starting to 'see the light', etc.

So my advice to anyone out there is definately not worry about the anaesthetic - thats the least of your worries - and the operation on where-ever-it-may-be may hurt a bit afterwards, but it gets better soooooo quickly.

Once again, thanks guys for all the responses.

Moggy.
 
Glad your surgery went well. We should start a knee surgery support group, as I will be most likely getting surgery soon as well for my ACL. Tore it playing rugby, and so now it's just a matter of waiting for some swelling and other damage to heal so they can go ahead and slice n dice it all over again.

So how long until you are back to normal on the knee?
 
Again.

Oh C*ck.


I need to have ANOTHER operation on the dang thing in the summer. :(

Oh well, I know what the experience is like now.
 
EDIT: OOPS! SORRY!! Thought it was this Saturday you were having it!!!!! That'll teach me to read more than half way before I post. Really glad you're doing so well.

It's about 15 years since I had an op but I was wheeled in, a tube was attached to my hand which I didn't even notice among all the action, then they held a small breathing mask in front of my nose and asked me to count down from 10. Bet you don't even get half way! When I woke up I was nice and sleepy but it wore off gradually and later in the day I went home.

Be prepared to feel a bit tired and sleep a lot more during the next few days as it works its way out of your system. You might be more thirsty too.

Best wishes! And come back next week and tell us how you got on!!!
 
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