Hiya all
Just being a bit daft here but I am worried about surgery on Thursday … I keep thinking maybe I wont wake up??? Is it me or has anyone else had these fears?
Oh Suzy, you sound just like me a little over a year ago. I had done chemo without worrying and now was scared of the anaesthetic killing me plus had bad memories of a couple of dental anaesthetcis as a child in the 1970s which had left me very sick. Once I started telling people I was terrified of not waking up I found loads of people shared my fear but were too scared to say so!
Because of the way my brain works, I checked the risks of anaesthetics - miniscule, and then basically in people with multiple issues. I mentioned it to the nurse at my pre-op and she said, in a helpful way, “don’t worry they always come back, we haven’t lost one yet”. I also told the anaesthetist I was scared when I met her the day before my surgery - she was LOVELY said ‘of course you are’ and made sure I got a sleeping pills for that night and a pre-med before I went down. She explained everything to me and made sure they put antisickness meds in my drip during/after surgery.
I went down to surgery as calm as anything (probably a bit high on the sleeping pills!) and can honestly recall nothing from when they put the cannula in my hand until I woke up in the ward feeling safe and warm. I remember looking around and thinking ‘oh, I’m back then’ before drifting off to sleep again!
So, my best suggestion is to tell the anaesthetist you are anxious and hopefully they will be as lovely as mine was.
Hopefully, too, like me you will find your fear of anaesthetics is cured!
Take care and a hug ‘n’ a prayer from me to take with you
Hi Suzy,
you seem so scared, we have these though, its because you are going into the unknown, it is natural to feel like you are at the moment.
Your medical team will take very good care of you.you are on monitors of all sorts no need to fear,there is a lot of docs with you at all time watching every move you make taking care of all your needs.
Please tell your med team that you are anxious, i did, they are so understanding, i was told to think of something nice still thinking of it when i was told you can wake now all went well its over,
Now 5 weeks since my op slowly recovering,next step my meds,
i know what you are going through like a lot of us you will soon feel better, i can reasure you, you will be taken good care of.
Sending my thoughts with you, hope all goes well on thursday keep posting on here as we are here to support you.
Take care Pat xx
Hi Suzy
I felt exactly the same. I was scared that I wasn’t going to wake up. I found everyone so reassuring when I expressed my fears to them.
I am sure it is a very normal reaction. You will be fine.
Take care
KatyD x
Hi Suzy
You sound perfectly normal to me as anybody who is awaiting an op is always scared that they won’t wake up.
The lovely nurse who came with me down to theatre for my mx and who held my hand whilst I cried made me feel so humble when she revealed that she had also been treated for cancer and had a very young daughter too.
And, of course, I woke up and didn’t even feel sick once and within an hour was sitting up in bed eating a sandwich and drinking a cup of tea.
I take my inspiration from my hubby who was told at his quadruple heart bypass pre-op assessment that there was a possibility that he might not survive the op. It was a heart op after all! They most certainly do NOT say that to you when you have a breast cancer op so try and relax for you will be in good hands. With 50,000 women in the UK being diagnosed with breast cancer each year breast surgery is tried and tested.
My advice is not to be frightened or to suffer in silence, but tell the nurses and the anaesthetist beforehand and they will put your mind at ease and before you know it you will back from theatre and having a nice cuppa!
Good luck and I am sure that everything will be fine for Thursday and I’ll be looking forward to hearing that you are recovering well.
With love
Mazzalou xx
Apart from a dental anaesthetic in the early 70’s, this was also my first GA, and I was more scared that I WAS going to wake up! Fortunately all went by plan, I’m not hypersensitive to the drugs at all, (although both my sister and my father were) it’s just that my previous anaesthetist must have mis-estimated my dose based on my height not my weight, as I was a teenage bean-pole - (hard to believe now I know) ah happy days way back then!!
It’s a perfectly natural worry. But an anaesthetist will be very reluctant to put you to sleep (other than an unavoidable lifesaving emergency) if they are not 100% confident they can wake you up again, as they are the ones responsible. But then again, I think if I knew I was very seriously ill and going to die otherwise in the next 24hours, a handsome caring anaesthetist might not be such a bad last sight…!
And I suppose in hindsight, if I hadn’t woken up, well that’s not really my problem, I would have more important issues to deal with, (although beany-boobs and radiation would be OFF the list) and my next-of-kin gets to do with the washing-up!
You will be fine, please excuse my wierd sense of humour. It’s quite an effective coping mechanism.
In contrast I was, however, desparately worried about getting a post op infection. I had heard bad things about standards of hygiene at my hospital which turned out to be totally unfounded.