Surgery stories

[embiggen]

I've only had my tonsils out and my impacted wisdom teeth out.

 

 

oh wait, I forgot about getting my wisdom teeth taken out, so I guess that's 5!

[quarter23cd]

oh wait, I forgot about getting my wisdom teeth taken out

Yeah, me too. And I woke up puking after that one, too! Must be something with the anesthesia.

[Good Old Neon]

One.

[RaspberryJam]

I forgot about wisdom teeth too! Actually that was kind of pleasant. Like an excellent nap. I got a recommendation for an oral surgeon and he injected something to control swelling. The next day I had steak cut up really small and a glass of wine!

[cryptique]

I had all four (impacted) wisdom teeth taken out at once, and when the anesthesia wore off, I jumped right up and offered to drive home.

 

My parents wisely banished me to the back seat. About thirty seconds after I walked into the house, I was asleep, and the next couple of days were mostly a fog.

[uncool2pillow]

When I had my wisdom teeth about around 15 years ago. The doctor came in and turned on the nitrous oxide, the left to finish with another patient. He was delayed as that patient asked lots of questions. I've never used nitrous recreationally, but that extra dose I got while waiting was pretty cool.

[embiggen]

Yeah, me too. And I woke up puking after that one, too! Must be something with the anesthesia.

 

 

I didn't puke, but thus began my long journey into painkiller addiction

[austrya]

I didn't puke after my wisdom teeth, but I did after I got my tonsils out. I have a sensitivity to Tylenol 3 w/ codeine and it makes me throw up. So it's a lot of fun when your throat hurts like hell and you go to take your pain meds and then throw up before they can start working. It feels really freaking great, let me tell you.

[IATTBYB]

When I was a teenager I had a surgical procedure for a deviated septum. I remember being given a sedative in the hospital room early in the morning. The next thing I remember was opening my eyes and looking into a bright light. Then I see my ENT doctor upside down and he is swinging a hammer-like implement. I feel my head being pushed back as I hear a metallic banging. I then closed my eyes again. When I regain most of my senses I am back in my room and recall that before the surgery, my ENT told me that this particular procedure would help me breathe more efficiently through my nose. I am so excited about this development that I attempt to take a big breath through the ol' schnoz. No air, completely plugged up. I reach for a tissue and blow my nose, and out comes the cotton wads rammed up there to control the bleeding and a torrent of blood and residual bodily secretions from the nasal passages. I was a stupid teenager.

[LouieB]

Oh, and I also discovered that morphine is pretty awesome.

My standard advice to folks needing a pain killer...always ask for dilaudid (synthetic morphine, which may be what you got) it is the best there is...

 

Two bowel resections here...I am not nearly 3 feet short on bowel......last one was in October of last year.....kicked the fuck out of me...

 

LouieB

[embiggen]

I think I'm going to go for number 6 by the end of the year or early next year

[NightOfJoy]

[Beltmann]

after all this I believe the anesthesia a patient goes through plays a big part in their experience as a whole. For instance, I cried during "A Baby Story" and VH1 "Behind The Music- Blind Melon" right after 2 of my surgeries.

 

I have hazy recollections of really diggin' Jimmy Cliff's "I Can See Clearly Now" while zoning in and out in a recovery room.

[sweetheart-mine]

four years ago i fell and ruptured a disc, and spent two months in absolute agony, refusing to see a neurosurgeon even though my long-term and trustworthy doc insisted that (arthroscopic) surgery was probably my only chance. tons of drugs, morphine and oxycontin increased every few days, didn't touch that pain. after two months i let him make the neurosurgery appt but it was too late -- almost immediately my husband had to call ambulance in the middle of the night for week-long pain treatment via some machine in the hospital before the surgery.

 

during those two months, one poor soul, a depressive young woman, killed herself on the beach near us by taking off her clothes and lying out there in the night until the water and/or exposure (it was february) killed her. that was not funny; but looking back what i find funny is that at the time i envied her like crazy, thought she'd had a good idea, and prayed to whoever or whatever might be out or up there to give me the ability to walk to the beach to do what she did. but i couldn't walk out there. couldn't even walk to the bathroom.

 

i was lucky and the surgery was successful. what has always bugged me, though, is that one of my few memories of the hospital stay was finally being wheeled into the operating room (i'd never seen one before) and it looked absolutely magical yet there was only a moment to enjoy it. it had a checkered floor; gigantic, beautiful-looking machines; and nice people saying simple things to me. later i felt extremely thrilled to have my life back, yet a little bit cheated, to this day, that i didn't get to study the operating room more, ask questions about it and understand it, absorb what felt like magic or a miracle. cheated!

[PigSooie]

four years ago i fell and ruptured a disc, and spent two months in absolute agony, refusing to see a neurosurgeon even though my long-term and trustworthy doc insisted that (arthroscopic) surgery was probably my only chance. tons of drugs, morphine and oxycontin increased every few days, didn't touch that pain. after two months i let him make the neurosurgery appt but it was too late -- almost immediately my husband had to call ambulance in the middle of the night for week-long pain treatment via some machine in the hospital before the surgery.

 

during those two months, one poor soul, a depressive young woman, killed herself on the beach near us by taking off her clothes and lying out there in the night until the water and/or exposure (it was february) killed her. that was not funny; but looking back what i find funny is that at the time i envied her like crazy, thought she'd had a good idea, and prayed to whoever or whatever might be out or up there to give me the ability to walk to the beach to do what she did. but i couldn't walk out there. couldn't even walk to the bathroom.

 

i was lucky and the surgery was successful. what has always bugged me, though, is that one of my few memories of the hospital stay was finally being wheeled into the operating room (i'd never seen one before) and it looked absolutely magical yet there was only a moment to enjoy it. it had a checkered floor; gigantic, beautiful-looking machines; and nice people saying simple things to me. later i felt extremely thrilled to have my life back, yet a little bit cheated, to this day, that i didn't get to study the operating room more, ask questions about it and understand it, absorb what felt like magic or a miracle. cheated!

 

Do you mind telling what you had done?

[Griddles]

I had my wisdom teeth out a few years back. I remember going into the office and sitting down and getting an IV put in. Then all of sudden I am at home. That night, it was senior slip day at my high school and I was class president, I went to all the parties and got drunk. Man that was fun. No ill affects, not rice caught in the holes.

 

I also had part of my big toe removed in an outpatient procedure. Just had to wear big shoes for about a week.

[sweetheart-mine]

I had my wisdom teeth out a few years back. I remember going into the office and sitting down and getting an IV put in. Then all of sudden I am at home. That night, it was senior slip day at my high school and I was class president, I went to all the parties and got drunk. Man that was fun. No ill affects, not rice caught in the holes.

 

I also had part of my big toe removed in an outpatient procedure. Just had to wear big shoes for about a week.

love big shoes. can't understand tight shoes.

[viatroy]

my first experience with drugs was when i had my wisdom teeth out at 12. whooooo doggies. Thanks Mom.

 

I remember being 5 and having to have abcess surgery on a bad case of mumps. (lovely, eh?) I remember them putting the mask over my face and telling me to count to 100. Then I got a big stuffed alligator.

 

A couple minor things surgeries as an adult. I hate trying to struggle awake from the anesthesia. Why can't they just let you sleep/dream it off?

[sweetheart-mine]

Do you mind telling what you had done?

not at all, though i wasn't "there" for much of anything! it was an L5-S1 disc rupture, pressing with unusual force on the sciatic nerve down the entire hip and leg. the neurosurgeon made about a two-inch incision in my lower back and removed the pressing disc matter using tiny cameras and instruments that showed up on a computer screen, which he followed throughout. i'm told it took a couple of hours. they can't repair the disc itself, but removing the disc matter from the sciatic nerve area took away the pain. there was post-surgical pain at the incision site for a few months, and i had a few months of physical therapy after that, but since then you'd never know anything happened.

 

i was also told that this problem used to require a much bigger incision and be much riskier than it is arthroscopically. in the future, if pain is minimal i'd wait it out again; but if i ever have that kind of pain again, i won't hesitate to go for the surgery much sooner than last time.

[sweetheart-mine]

my first experience with drugs was when i had my wisdom teeth out at 12. whooooo doggies. Thanks Mom.

 

I remember being 5 and having to have abcess surgery on a bad case of mumps. (lovely, eh?) I remember them putting the mask over my face and telling me to count to 100. Then I got a big stuffed alligator.

 

A couple minor things surgeries as an adult. I hate trying to struggle awake from the anesthesia. Why can't they just let you sleep/dream it off?

do you mean the mumps themselves abscessed, in your throat? wow, that IS bad! all i remember of mumps is crying in my high chair because i couldn't swallow cheerios.

 

trying to wake up from anesthesia can be nasty. i needed an oxygen mask because i couldn't get my breath. yah, why can't they just let you sleep it off? maybe a medical person on this board can tell us.

[turtlegirl37]

Ugh, this thread is sick... but fascinating. I hate surgery, blood, anesthesia, pills, and all things related. Just the thought makes me a little nauseous- which is one of several reasons why I became a psychologist and not a psychiatrist.

[viatroy]

do you mean the mumps themselves abscessed, in your throat? wow, that IS bad! all i remember of mumps is crying in my high chair because i couldn't swallow cheerios.

 

trying to wake up from anesthesia can be nasty. i needed an oxygen mask because i couldn't get my breath. yah, why can't they just let you sleep it off? maybe a medical person on this board can tell us.

 

 

yes, entirely disgusting. I still have the scar on my jawline.

[juicybrucy]

All the way back in the 70's, I was 20 years old and had a nose job. When I awoke from surgery, my mother and my 8 years only brother were there to pick me up and take me home. I was pretty out of it, but I remember my brother asking me if I had cotton mouth. I guess I said I did. He nodded and said yeah, sorta like when you've been smoking pot. I nodded back, not understanding what he meant 'cause back then I was such a goody-two-shoes! My mom never brought up that conversation.

[PigSooie]

not at all, though i wasn't "there" for much of anything! it was an L5-S1 disc rupture, pressing with unusual force on the sciatic nerve down the entire hip and leg. the neurosurgeon made about a two-inch incision in my lower back and removed the pressing disc matter using tiny cameras and instruments that showed up on a computer screen, which he followed throughout. i'm told it took a couple of hours. they can't repair the disc itself, but removing the disc matter from the sciatic nerve area took away the pain. there was post-surgical pain at the incision site for a few months, and i had a few months of physical therapy after that, but since then you'd never know anything happened.

 

i was also told that this problem used to require a much bigger incision and be much riskier than it is arthroscopically. in the future, if pain is minimal i'd wait it out again; but if i ever have that kind of pain again, i won't hesitate to go for the surgery much sooner than last time.

 

Good deal.

[ikol]

do you mean the mumps themselves abscessed, in your throat? wow, that IS bad! all i remember of mumps is crying in my high chair because i couldn't swallow cheerios.

 

trying to wake up from anesthesia can be nasty. i needed an oxygen mask because i couldn't get my breath. yah, why can't they just let you sleep it off? maybe a medical person on this board can tell us.

 

While you're anesthetized, they intubate you, meaning they put tube down your throat so you can breathe. They have to wake you up when they extubate you, so they can make sure you can breathe on your own.