What happens if patients move in surgery?

[rsb]

I woke up during my leg surgery. I said, "Oh, that was quick. We're done already?" I heard my Orthopedic Surgeon curse at the Anesthesiologist before I went back out again.😂😂😂😂😂

[jillcooper]

My doc screamed "PUT HER BACK UNDER RIGHT because I was trying to push up off the operating table during my first back surgery.

[lorifrederick]

During surgery, the staff were asking what they were doing for 4th of July, one said they were going to Cape Cod, and I replied "great seafood, I ate my way thru Massachusetts " then saw 5 startled faces turn to me in horror. 😮😮

[truebluecubbiegirl]

I laid strapped down to the table arguing with my anesthesiologist whether or not I was asleep. She said I was. LITERALLY gaslighting me. I told her prior to the surgery I don't anesthetize or fall asleep well or for long. She said between her and the anesthesia, she would win. She did not. One kind nurse kept coming to talk to me and soothe me. The surgeon was leaning on my wrist with the IV and it was painful. It told him three times but he ignored me so I tickled his belly with my fingers which was all I could move. He finally acknowledged my presence, yelled at the staff that they attached my arm straps wrong and told the anesthesiologist to give me some propofol. I woke up in recovery with no complications. Not cool.
P.S. I'm a former Medical/ OR assistant and have seen numerous patients go under and come out of anesthesia. I know what a person who is 'comfortably numb' looks like.

[tracymead]

I woke up during my hysterectomy and asked my doctor if she wanted to go to the movies later, then complimented the nurse on her super cute scrubs. Dr yelled i need more anesthesia NOW!!! the nurse and i giggled about it afterward!

[sandybailey]

I’m an Anesthetist and had my best friend do my anesthesia for an infected knee joint. But I had bad veins and had awareness briefly after being paralyzed for intubation. I started mentally yelling: Bev! Please give me a breath here now! We used to joke how we read each other’s mind and I guess it worked bc I felt my lungs expand and then I went back out.
After surgery she asked me if I had early awareness…bc she swore she heard me talking in her ear!

[katepeterson]

I’ve had 16 surgeries in 9 years and been under anesthesia a total of around 25 times. I just had a procedure yesterday- nice anesthesia nap.
I’ve been very fortunate to have only woken twice during surgeries. The first time, I remember clearly…starting to choke and then throwing up. I was flipped on my side in an instant. A Yankauers suction shoved down my throat and then I was back under. Woke up with a very sore throat and a faint memory of the urgency that had happened around me. Thankful that everyone was calm and knew exactly how to handle the emergency.

The 2nd time I woke up- I said, “helloooo” to one of the nurses and I just remember her looking at me then saying, “oh she needs more juice” and that was that. Out cold.

My worst experience with Anesthesia was not being listened to by the anesthesiologist for my hysterectomy. He knew I was a patient with difficult to manage pain and sedation. My medical records were clear as was the conversation I had with him before we went to the OR. He promised me I was in great hands. Mmm hmmm.
While he kept me asleep, he didn’t manage the pain aspect- at all.
I woke up in PACU *certain* I was still in the OR because I felt like I was being cut to pieces. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t speak, all I heard were shrieks come out of my own mouth. Was a horrific experience.
Anesthesia’s job is more than just keeping us asleep….its making sure we don’t wake up thinking we’re on the cutting block.

His error ended up causing me to be admitted for longer because we couldn’t get my pain controlled. All of that is a very important part of recovery…patients heal faster and are discharged sooner when their pain is managed. Pain is best managed BEFORE it gets bad.

All in all…my anesthesiologists have been wonderful and they’re always super cool people. Compassionate. I also see an anesthesiologist for Ketamine occasionally as well…that’s a relationship that requires just as much trust as when they’re putting you to sleep. It almost feels even MORE vulnerable.

Thanks doc- your videos are great.

[lunahyacinth]

I got in an argument with an anesthesiologist about meds at my last surgery. I’m allergic to the pre-meds she liked using along with most pain medications, instead of coming and asking me what I usually do for anesthesia she stood outside my pre-op room loudly griping to the nurse about “wtf she was supposed to use if I was actually allergic to all the meds”… she was a bit stunned when I called out loudly “maybe you should ask the patient instead of going off on the nurse”… I can do propofol and don’t need the pre-meds used to calm the patient down going into the OR. Once we got into the back she pushed the anesthesia and said, “ok she’s out” only for me to go “I know you aren’t talking about me because I’m definitely not” while she had her little freak out about why the dose didn’t work I told the OR nurse, “let her know if she’d fully unclamp the IV and push some saline to get the med actually in my vein we can get started”(they had a long extension on my IV and it wasn’t fully unclamped leaving enough room for the saline to flush in but not the thicker propofol). I’ve never seen someone get so red as I went dark mid laugh.

[marietylerwiley]

Yup…my anesthesiologist dropped the ball. I was paralyzed and could feel EVERYTHING…In my head I was screaming “Stop it hurts - it hurts”…but my mouth was moving. So I ended up tombstoning on the table & woke up in a different hospital in their cardiac ICU unit. Nothing was wrong w/my heart. He screwed up! BTW…on the bright side…Heaven is real! 😍♥️🥳

[carolan]

Yup I woke up at 15 years with the orthodontist on top of me, and assistants around me, my mouth wide open, the pain, being restrained, he was trying to pull out my teeth- the most terrifying experience of my life. They just kept telling me, all of three of them, relax, go back to sleep, and then shook me and yelled at me to stop moving and to go back to sleep now! I was panicking because I was a child and suddenly saw a large man over my face, felt his weight pulling on my head, hands in my mouth, horrible pain. Worst experience of my life. To this day I don’t know why they were upset with me, it was their job to give me more medication and stop terrifying me until I fell back asleep. I never told my parents, I was so traumatized it took many years to remember why I didn’t want to talk about that day and talk about it.

[TanukiTuesday]

Here's a nicer story for all those that had really bad ones.
I was around 4 when I needed a hernia fixed. Instead of wheeling me on the gurney alone into the operating room, my surgeon carried me in and they put me to sleep in his arms. They also put a band aid on my stuffed pony I brought with me, sent me home with a really nice blanket I still have, and sent a get better card signed by the whole operating team.
Don't remember the initial injury or waking up, other than getting all the popsicles I could eat, but I do remember how kind they were decades later 😊

[nyxskids]

I remember looking at my the bones in my feet while having bunion surgery on both feet at the same time to get it over with. I remember the pain. I remember being paralyzed. I remember feeling like I was choking from the intubation tube. I remember blinking a lot to try and get the attention of the anesthesiologist. I remember the doctors and the rest of the staff singing along to 'Stop in the Name of Love' and the anesthesiologist only noticing distress after they were done singing

I also remember waking up early in recovery and arguing with the nurse over the incident and being told I was a liar until I started singing: 'Stop in the name of love before you break my heart, sponge and suction here please please please' and one of the nurses dropped a tray because she was in the OR and recognized the change in words as the one surgeon's.

I remember them hurrying to give me two more injections and saying "she won't remember any of that with all that in her system"

But I did

I remember talking to a lawyer about it but I couldn't call until I was out of the hospital and by then all the drugs were out of my system and without that as proof, I had no case

I remember telling my next anesthesiologist about it and they didn't believe me

And the next one

And the next

And the next. The surgeon in that one was startled when I moved and they "nicked" my bowel tract and left me slowly bleeding internally for a week and giving me multiple transfusions hoping to blame it on something else while they hoped it healed itself. I remember the endoscopy without sedation because my body couldn't handle it. And I remember the subsequent surgery to fix that "nick" where they could only give me the paralytic because I was too weak for anything else and everything about that surgery including the pain and the constant apologies from the staff, except the anesthesiologist who just groaned at everyone else's apologies, and muttering under his breath that he'd done nothing wrong and occasionally saying "what a bitch". I still don't know who he was talking about. I do remember a nurse holding my hand and wiping away my tears

What I don't remember is anything about my latest surgery because the anesthesiologist that time, Sara, listened to my past encounters and thanked me for telling her all of that despite how obviously upsetting it was and told me that if I woke up during this surgery and she didn't notice to do that blinking thing again because she would be on the lookout for it but she would also be keeping close attention and hoped I wouldn't need to do that. She kept her promise and I remained out the entire surgery. Still woke up earlier than expected in recovery but that didn't bother me

I wish more anesthesiologists were like Sara

[SmolSydlee]

I'm so thankful that I've only had ONE anesthesiologist who didn't take me seriously when I said I have redhead genetics. It was during my extraction of my wisdom teeth but I still occasionally have nightmares about it. :')

[cassiemarie]

Waking up during an abdominal surgery was the worst. I am not a fan of seeing my guts and I still have nightmares about the pain

[Indigosoul]

I woke up during my eye transplant. That's how I learned what kind of music the Dr likes, what she was doing that night and donor information.

[defining_me]

I apparently have zero memory, but my body fights the medical staff. Somwtimes they have to resedate me after. I remember waking to hear nurses talking about what the patient was doing, and I asked who it was, and they said it was me. I also was having a massive anxiety attack. I was told this was due to my CPTSD.

When I had to have a lumpectomy, I explained this to my surgeon. She was so amazing. She placed her hand in my hand and explained that this is common, especially for women. She made me feel normal.

I am lucky because all the medical proceedures I have had, medical staff have seemed to be compassionate and understanding. I tend to apologize in advance and let them know this happens without my awareness.

[aunt_b]

Yes, I have and it was scary because when I opened my eyes and looked up at the doctor and made a noise ever so slightly 😳 because I was tied down. I saw a large pink circle with black in the middle. My first thought was cancer, but i didn't flip out..Somehow I was not surprised. He yelled at the anesthesiologist to get me back under AND FAST, he emphasized! Out I went almost before he finished talking. Praise God it was not cancer that I saw. .

[jyspenla]

I woke up after they paralyzed me and couldn’t breathe on my own. It’s terrifying to wake up not being able to breathe! My back surgery was 8 months ago and I healed up great, but I still can’t get over that crystal clear memory of suffocating. I told the OR staff, the nurse anesthetist and my surgeon and they ALL gaslighted me like: “oh yeah, that happens sometimes.”😡

[EllenD]

Woke up to them stapling my ankle closed. That sucked. I'm a recovering alcoholic (11 years without a drop) and apparently we need more anesthesia, for life, even tho we never abused anesthesia. It's wild. I tried to tell them (advice from friends in recovery), but they just treated me like a drug seeker.

[ninabaxter]

That happened to me, and he just said you aren’t awake you just think you are. When I came to get my stitches out I talked to him. He said he didn’t believe me. Dr.s please 🙏 pay attention to your patients. We know what pain is and we don’t want to be awake. It hurts and I have to go on about it every time I have to have something done because I am afraid they won’t believe me. That is not right to traumatize your patients. 😮