Waking up during surgey

[exactly150 0]

They were just talking about this very thing on Larry King the other night! It seems it happens far more frequently than any of us know. I have had 15 surgeries, and happend to me once years ago. Very frightening.

[Jeni 85 0]

Ya, i heard about this on the news.. Do you believe they made a stupid horror movie about this:confused:.... I so not going to watch it... absolutely refuse to..

Its bad enough people are scared going into surgery for every other reason.. why do they have to make people more scared by making movies about it...Granted it does happen but no need to make it a horror movie!!!!

[caligal 0]

MzLizzyB do not cancel your surgery because of one incident. It does happen but is uncommon. Everybody is different.

OMG that is very terrifying! I am supposed to be banded 1 week from today, already having second thoughts, that is enough to make me want to cancel the whole thing .....

Liz

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

MzLizzyB do not cancel your surgery because of one incident. It does happen but is uncommon. Everybody is different.

Very true.

People wake up in OR but they are supposed to wake up in OR. With the draping people have no idea what is going on. They think because they woke up in OR that means they woke up during surgery. Not true. Most people, we want them to wake up in OR, they don't usually remember but those that do think that shouldn't have happened. Not true again. People are usually waking up while bandages and such are being placed. They feel pulling and tugging and believe surgery is still going on. In reality they feel the staff cleaning them up and taping incisions, bandaging incisions. Again, we WANT people to wake up exactly when they do.

Look at all the banded nurses here. You think any nurse would willingly get surgery if this thread were the least bit accurate? If this thread represented reality, you show me one nurse that would be willing to go have this done. I darn sure wouldn't.

Also, keep in mind that one of the biggest story tellers on this thread got her account suspended. You have to take things with a grain of salt. Between story tellers and false memories, you can't depend on that when looking at your own surgery.

[KarenG. 0]

Very true.

People wake up in OR but they are supposed to wake up in OR. With the draping people have no idea what is going on. They think because they woke up in OR that means they woke up during surgery. Not true. Most people, we want them to wake up in OR, they don't usually remember but those that do think that shouldn't have happened. Not true again. People are usually waking up while bandages and such are being placed. They feel pulling and tugging and believe surgery is still going on. In reality they feel the staff cleaning them up and taping incisions, bandaging incisions. Again, we WANT people to wake up exactly when they do.

Look at all the banded nurses here. You think any nurse would willingly get surgery if this thread were the least bit accurate? If this thread represented reality, you show me one nurse that would be willing to go have this done. I darn sure wouldn't.

Also, keep in mind that one of the biggest story tellers on this thread got her account suspended. You have to take things with a grain of salt. Between story tellers and false memories, you can't depend on that when looking at your own surgery.

Not knowing anything about medicine, I am with Wasa - for one thing, she always has great incite with her medical background. Also, I can't imagine that this happens all that often because as a lawyer and I know that we would hear more about this possibility from the anesthesiologist before we went into surgery because of liability.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

[Jeni 85 0]

they woke me up after surgery and i remember my surgeon saying its all done the nurse or going to move you to recovery.. i felt them move me to the bed and i knocked back out... next thing you know i was in recovery and my surgeon came in to tell me everything went good and asked me how i was feeling...

But i definitely agree with Wasa .... She is one smart nurse!!!

[Dibaby 0]

Well it happened to me but it won't stop me from having additional surgeries. Nahh..I highly doubt that it will happen again. I'm already dreaming about the day I can have plastic surgery..hehe. I do know that it did happen without a doubt though. I'm not saying eveyone here is 100% correct but I know what I experienced and I'd even go under a lie detector to prove it. The only thing is I wish that I could remember what they were saying. I was so panicked as to not breathing that I really wasn't listening.

[kagoscuba 0]

I've had three surgeries, and here are my experiences.

1. Wisdom teeth, in the oral surgeon's office, and I "woke up" heard people talking, heard the doctor get irritated at someone for me being awake, then back to happy-land...never felt any pain.

2. I had a deviated septum fixed in an ambulatory care center (strip-mall surgery). It was one moment "lights-on" to "lights-out" back to "lights-on". Unlike the wisdom teeth surgery, I never felt any passage of time. The surgery was about an hour, with some pretty invasive things done (think of dozens of sutures inside your nose...not nice) and I only remember the doctor talking to me prior to surgery, then asking me loudly to wake up, when it was over. I was already in recovery. It was weird as I felt I had only blinked my eyes and it was over.

3. Lap-band. First time I've ever been wheeled into an operating room. It was a bit scary, and it was DAMN cold. I was freezing, and the warm blankets were a nice touch. Anesthesiologist told me I'd go down soon, and so I did. Time passed for me in this surgery, and I can't swear to it, but I think I remember gagging on a tube as I woke up, then the next thing I remember I was in recovery. The gagging on a tube thing was fuzzy enough of a memory that I didn't bring it up to the doctor, but I did have a sore throat, so maybe I wasn't just dreaming.

[tsunami1967 0]

I've never awakened during surgery but I did wake up during an endoscopic procedure. It was awful I woke up with a scope still all the way down past my stomach in what is called the common bile duct. It's the tube that connects the liver, gallbladder and pancreas to the small intestine. I thought I was going to die.

[MizPeppy 3]

Wasa, thank God you were here to tell me what I didn't experience. I would have gone through life with the mistaken idea that I was awake. Heavens, I guess I just invented it all from all the hours I worked in surgery.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Wasa, thank God you were here to tell me what I didn't experience. I would have gone through life with the mistaken idea that I was awake. Heavens, I guess I just invented it all from all the hours I worked in surgery.

Actually, that isn't what I wrote at all. I did not tell you what you experienced. I wrote what it sounded like. And it does, it sounds as though you woke up at the end of surgery when you were supposed to.

[Leena 108]

I had a previous surgery and this happened to me, tonsilectomy. I was awake for part of it, accidently and then even told my mother after they brought me back to me room from recovery. I was able to make moaning noises apparently.

When it came time to have my lap-band, almost 10 years later, I told my Dr. about my previous experience and spoke with the anestesiologist, who said it does happen and he would monitor me closely to be sure I wasn't waking up early.

Lapband went smoothly, last thing I remember I was moving from the gurnie to the OR table and just layed down. I asked about the monitors, were they HD/ Plasma/etc and don't even remember hearing the answer. The next thing I knew I was in the recovery room with a pulse monitor on my finger and the nurse came by and explained how to use the morphine pump. 8 hours later I was moved to a room, yes they were short on beds that's the only reason I was in the recovery room for 8 hours.

[caligal 0]

On my port replacement, I woke up gagging on the tube also and then a whole bunch of phlegm came up. Then I fell back asleep and wheeled to recovery.

As for the hospital it was soooo cold, I couldn't wait to be covered with the warm blankets!!!

There

I've had three surgeries, and here are my experiences.

1. Wisdom teeth, in the oral surgeon's office, and I "woke up" heard people talking, heard the doctor get irritated at someone for me being awake, then back to happy-land...never felt any pain.

2. I had a deviated septum fixed in an ambulatory care center (strip-mall surgery). It was one moment "lights-on" to "lights-out" back to "lights-on". Unlike the wisdom teeth surgery, I never felt any passage of time. The surgery was about an hour, with some pretty invasive things done (think of dozens of sutures inside your nose...not nice) and I only remember the doctor talking to me prior to surgery, then asking me loudly to wake up, when it was over. I was already in recovery. It was weird as I felt I had only blinked my eyes and it was over.

3. Lap-band. First time I've ever been wheeled into an operating room. It was a bit scary, and it was DAMN cold. I was freezing, and the warm blankets were a nice touch. Anesthesiologist told me I'd go down soon, and so I did. Time passed for me in this surgery, and I can't swear to it, but I think I remember gagging on a tube as I woke up, then the next thing I remember I was in recovery. The gagging on a tube thing was fuzzy enough of a memory that I didn't bring it up to the doctor, but I did have a sore throat, so maybe I wasn't just dreaming.

[Chrisann 0]

I had my presurgical testing this week. I met with the Anethesiologist too. They have me scheduled the first AM surgery because when I am dehydrated, my veins shrink in. I said that to the Anth. showed her all the bruises from the various doctors in the past two weeks that have taken blood, and told her about a previous procedure when the knockout drug when under my skin not into the vein. I have a permanent bruise there.

She says "so are you looking for special treatment", I answer, well I am more concerned since people can't find my veins, I am not going to be fully knocked out during surgery. She then says, we do 50 of these a week and never have a problem.

I am not so reassured with her answer.

[uniqueone 0]

I had my presurgical testing this week. I met with the Anethesiologist too. They have me scheduled the first AM surgery because when I am dehydrated, my veins shrink in. I said that to the Anth. showed her all the bruises from the various doctors in the past two weeks that have taken blood, and told her about a previous procedure when the knockout drug when under my skin not into the vein. I have a permanent bruise there.

She says "so are you looking for special treatment", I answer, well I am more concerned since people can't find my veins, I am not going to be fully knocked out during surgery. She then says, we do 50 of these a week and never have a problem.

I am not so reassured with her answer.

I would be anything but assured too and on top of that, I think she was extremely RUDE!!!