What Is It Really Like When You Wake Up After Surgery?

[Luwanna 80]

Like several others, my surgery is Tuesday. What is it REALLY like when you wake up? Please descride with HONESTY. Can you give me any comparisons, so I can get psyched for dealing with it? What was YOUR most difficult aspect of surgery? Pain? Swallowing? Nausea? PLEASE SHARE!

[5DoxieMom 87]

I mostly remember being told over and over and over, "take a deep breath". The O2 monitor kept beeping. I remember it being really hard to take deep breaths. Slight nausea, which I told the nurse about, she gave me something and it helped. I had some pain too, but not too bad. When I first woke up, I looked at the clock, it was 11:15, at 2:30 I was walking out of the surgery center. The first couple days I walked kind of hunched over.

[Less of Leslie 90]

I had an AMAZING experience. I last remember being put onto the OR table, the mask being placed on my face and counting backward...I only remember getting to 7! LOL!

The next thing I knew, my name was being called and I was awake. It felt like I JUST went to sleep. I asked the nurse "Is it done?! Did they do it?!" She said "Yes 'hon. You are all done". My throat did not hurt one bit. My Anesthesiologist must have been VERY GOOD at what she does.

I have NO complaints. I may be in the minority, I don't know, but ALL of us DON'T have horror stories. My recovery has been spot on. No probs, no issues. I would do the surgery 1000 times again.

Good Luck!

[alliegb3 112]

I woke up and wanted to get out of bed! I found out then I had a foley and was ticked off. It was uncomfortable and I hated it. Then I was fine

[Calicolea 38]

I thought I was really with it right after my surgery, but my husband told me the next day I was loopy and I guess he's right because thinking back I don't remember much until I woke up in my room later that day.

My stomach hurt, but I didn't have nausea or a sore throat. sleep was sporadic because the nurses were coming in all the time and it was hard to find a comfortable spot. I was glad I had a hospital bed though, I can't imagine getting up and down without those hydralics. LOL My stomach felt like I had done a gazillion crunches and the muscles were not working.

I was required to stay two days and really glad I did. I think the second day is much worse than the first and it was nice to have the TLC the nurses provided.

I think my hardest part has been regaining my strength and stamina. I think between surgery and the liquid diet it put a strain on my system. Not sure if it makes a difference, but my surgery was a revision and took over two hours due to scar tissue from the band, so that may make my recovery a bit longer. Having the lapband was a piece of cake..... but the revision was harder.

Hope my lil story helps

Best of luck on Tuesday.... you will do great!!!

[Wheetsin 714]

This is all based on my limited experience (I've had 4 surgeries).

You will go to sleep immediately. It's not like when you're sleepy and drift in and out. You're there one second, and you're out the next. You'll have no sensation of "going" -- it's like a light switch getting shut off.

Waking up is not the same. It will take you a while to be coherent. At first you'll be aware of some noises, and maybe some sensations. Your eyes may or may not respond - I can open my eyes, but have a hard time controlling what they look at (I try to look forward, but they tend to drift upward). You will not be speaking nearly as coherently as you think you are, so be patient. Mentally you'll be all there, you'll be able to have rational thought, etc. But it will be like you brain is sending out signals through mud.

You'll stay in recovery for a while. You may still be a bit in and out of it when transferred to your room.

Your memories after-the-fact will be sketchy. This is largely a side effect of one of the meds you'll get during prep. Some things you will remember crystal clear, and others no memory at all. I tend to remember fragments - snapshots. I can remember them coming to get me out of prep, but not the journey out of the prep room. I remember being in a hallway and talking with the people pushing me about remembering it (two of my surgeries used the same OR, about 6 years apart), and I remember being wheeled in and recognizing the layout, but I don't remember anything else until I'm already on the table and the anesthesiologist is putting a mask on me. I remember a short conversation we had, and next thing I'm waking up. I remember a few of the conversations, but I don't remember much from recovery. I don't remember the journey to my room at all. I know my parents were there, and that I talked to them, but I have no idea how long they were there, what was said, etc.

Worst part of surgery #1 (lap-band put in): Really nothing. Maybe the anxiety I had in the prep area. It was my first surgery and I was scared. I had a moment just before they started the IVs where I had to suppress a flight instinct. But really nothing about the surgery itself was bad. For this procedure I'd rate my worst pain as a 1 on a 10 point scale.

Worst part of surgery #2 (gallbladder out): Again, nothing really. I woke up in a bit more pain. For this procedure I'd rate my pain as a 3 on a 10 point scale. (I'll start asking for meds at a 4)

Worst part of surgery #3 (lap-band out): Easily the worst part of this surgery was the sore throat I woke up. It felt worse than strep, and lasted several days. I was spitting out rather than swallowing because swallowing hurt so much. Pain from this surgery was comparable to surgery #1 (I felt good enough that about 30 mins from leaving the hospital I was in a store looking for something to treat my throat with).

Worst part of surgery #4 (sleeve): I had a good amount of pain when I woke up, probably a 4 or maybe a 5 - it's hard to remember now. Most of it was "the incision" (most people have most incision pain from the left side incision), and a smaller amount from the incision that was also holding the drain.

I"ve never had nausea or vomiting with surgery. I've been sleeved going on 9 weeks and have never had nausea/vomiting.

[2bsmallagain 156]

The thing I remember bothering me the most was the sore throat. The surgery part was just some soreness. I was walking as soon as I came back to my room. It feels like you worked out really hard with situps and your abdomen is sore but no real pain. My throat was hurting terrribly though and did for several days.

[Finding MeMe 204]

Like I was hit by a mack truck. Not to scare you but nothing could have prepared me for surgery because it was the first time I was under anastesia or remaining overnight in the hospital. I was so afraid and thougt I couldn't survive but i did. Good Luck to you.

[chrysler 16]

I had an AMAZING experience. I last remember being put onto the OR table' date=' the mask being placed on my face and counting backward...I only remember getting to 7! LOL!

The next thing I knew, my name was being called and I was awake. It felt like I JUST went to sleep. I asked the nurse "Is it done?! Did they do it?!" She said "Yes 'hon. You are all done". My throat did not hurt one bit. My Anesthesiologist must have been VERY GOOD at what she does.

I have NO complaints. I may be in the minority, I don't know, but ALL of us DON'T have horror stories. My recovery has been spot on. No probs, no issues. I would do the surgery 1000 times again.

Good Luck![/quote']

I had a very similar experience. No pain no sickness. No problems swallowing. I walked 3 hours after surgery with no problems. ANSI got up and walked lots without the nurses telling me too. I am very lucky and blessed. I stayed a total of 22 hours in hospital and went home changed and went to my sons baseball game!!!

[amarieh 3]

everyone's experience differs as these replies tell you. I hear that some people leave the hospital the same day as the sleeve procedure....I recommend you stay in if possible. They will help you to control your pain (there will be some), help you in and out of bed to go to the bathroom, and make sure you are able to pee and sip fluids the next day. Use a pillow to hold against your abdomen when you get up as sort of a splint. be sure to walk a few minutes at a time starting the day of the surgery. if you just lay around, you will get weaker. All in all, I didn't think it was too bad. My gallbladder removal this week was worse! You feel better a little bit every day.

[Butterflylegacy 64]

Just out of curiosity..... is the sensation after the surgery similar to c-section? For some reason, that's what I keep comparing it to in my mind.

[Mab 44]

I woke up and was in immediate pain - not from the incisions, but I had really, really bad gas. I knew immediately what it was and asked the nurse to make it go away. My pain was about an 8.

[nursing38 23]

I think I was lucky. dont remember anything until about 12 hours post op. preop they put me on my side to place spinal and that was the last thing I remember. I did have really bad nausea for a day post op. no pain and once I got up and started walking the nausea improved. even the 2 leak tests were not bad. thank God I didnt have a catheter. I have not had pain except when I try eating 1 bite to many. need to listen to my body more.

[NJsharon 119]

I remember being on the operating table, next thing I knew I was waking up in my hospital room. Kind of groggy, hard to focus at first on who was there. Then I remember finding it hard to breathe & swallow... then I felt them pulling a tube out of my throat. That felt a tiny bit uncomfortable, but then it was easier to breathe & swallow!

I had no pain at all when I woke, just some nausea for the first 24 hours.

Sorry, no c-section so can't compare it to that.

[MyGastricSleeveLife 180]

I remember being rolled in to the operating room & seeing the big lights above me & having them tell me to move from the stretcher to the operating table. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery & was really groggy & had sharp pain & someone asked me how my pain was & I said 8-9. They gave me some fast-acting pain medicine & told me they could give me that every 5 minutes. I kept falling back to sleep & waking up & they'd give me more medicine. I don't remember actually being rolled up to my room, but remember waking up in my room later. Once in my room, I had a pain pump I could push for pain & I did use it some, but my pain never got more than about a 2 for me once in my room. I didn't have much gas pain that many people talk about. I really feel I had a great experience overall.