helpful things in the recovery room

OK...wanted to write a helpful post instead of a whiner! Being a veteran of a lot of orthopedic surgeries (I used to ski professionally), I have done many things to try to make the recovery room friendly and find things to divert my mind while the pain was at it's worst. Waking up from a general anesthesia is a strangle thing to start with...I have tried to figure it all out. During one of my reconstructive knee surgery, I was actually cognitivelly awake during my surgery...while I was not feeling pain, I did here everything they were saying. WHen I was in the recovery room, the Dr. came in to tell me what he had done, and I told him what he had done. He asked me how I knew, and I told him that I was awake during the surgery. I could not talk; I remember looking through my eyes...probably a squint and I wanted to tell them I was awake, but couldn't. I have heard some really nightmarish stories that are far worse than this...but let's not haunt everyone.

Anyway, it is strange...for anyone who has not been through it, they roll you into the operating room, usually after giving a really nice cocktail of drugs that make you very high and you wish you could remain in that lovely suspended state where the world is always wonderful non matter what. Then they put the medication in your IV and the next thing you know, you are in the recovery room. It is as though you were never gone. Except that you now have this excruciating pain and no-one seems to understand how bad you feel and much you hurt. Anyway...the very best thing I ever did, was to have the nurse in the recovery room put a walkman on me with relaxing, meditative, peaceful music. It was so nice and it lulled me into a very comforting space. My husband was able to be in the recovery room with me, and he was very gentle and kind and talked to me gently, reminding me to breath and relax. He gently massaged my feet. This particular surgery was probably the most painful I ever had even though it was the least invasive. For some reason, I woke up with terrible muscle spasm in my thigh and they were having a difficult time controlling my pain. So, TAKE A WALKMAN and beg the nurse to put it on you right out of surgery. Beg them to allow your spouse to come back with you...it is unreasonable that many/most hospitals don't allow people into recovery since there is no good reason not to. I think they should do every thing the can to make your time in the hospital as nurturing and healing as possible no matter what it takes. So you may talk also to your Doc. to get him to advocate for having your spouse in recovery. I think in the long run, it means less drugs, less time in recovery. Think about it...your spouse knows you, knows your personality and knows what you need better that the staff.

Also, (obviously not speaing from experience), I am really thinking about this almost the same as I would think about child birth. I waited until I was 6 cm and in excruciating pain before I asked for an epidural with my first. I was induced with both babies and inductions can be much more painful than "normal" labor. With my second, I had nothing except 10 members of my family in the room with me. I cannot imagine the pain of this being any worse or even as bad as child birth. So I am telling myself that the things we used as comfort measures during labor would most likely work for this: Nice soft foot massages. Gentle side-lying back massages with a tummy pillow; walking as soon as I can; slow, methodic breathing when the pain was at it's worst; and soft musinc and dim lights in the background. It certainly couldn't hurt and my husband and I have discussed this. I am releived that he is going to be able to focus on me rather than the children. I have had to go through almost all of my past surgeries by myself and this is going to be so much better because he doesn't have to run home to take care of the kids.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful for some of us. If anyone has any other suggestions, please mention them! Off to begin my day!

Terri

I have no memory at all of the recvoery room. One minute I was in the OR the next thing I knew I was in my room, DH was sitting there and my DR was standing over me.

It seems that for most Princesses, the time in the recovery room is very limited, just long enough to get stabilized, then it's off to the room.

I have no memory of the recovery room either... or going into the operating room.
he put in the IV.. and boom I was out! then I woke up in my room and couldnt keep my eyes open.. just wanted to sleep sleep sleep......and push the button for the pain meds

Good Luck and try and stay positive

Sheri

I remember the recovery room with my last surgery (cyst) I remember I felf like i could not breath and I was crying and I dont know why I was crying I was not in any pain.....horrible ........now im a tad worried about my surgery this monday but only because of my last recovery room deal .....

I barely remember the recovery room with my last surgery. I do remember feeling like I couldn't swallow, and it was hard to catch my breath for a minute but then that passed and I was cold and hurting somewhere in my belly. The nurse came over and asked me if I was in pain. I said something close to uh uh and she gave me demoral and phenergan. Then they were wheeling me down the hall to my room and my DBF was waiting for me.
He did such a wonderful job, getting me ice in between my groggy moments and naps.
lillySilly - Anesthesia can make you feel really emotional you can have outbursts of tears, anger or giggles - tell the anesthesiologist so he will know - it may have been the med that they used last time. Best wishes.

I'm one of those people who fights off anesthesia... So I remember being taken off of the surgical table and put on the gurney to go to the recovery room. I tried to warn my gyn before my last c-section and tubal ligation(sp?)... I think he had a hard time believing me. Until I woke up, suspended in mid air on a sheet, still in the OR!!! LOL He just looked at me, chuckled and said,"Okay, Lora, you proved your point. You did really well. We're all done, get some sleep. I'll talk to you when you get to your room!" I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the bumps.

Then I woke up in the recovery room, couldn't find my voice.... Kinda' made a clearing my throat noise, made the poor nurse jump as they'd put me right next to her desk! She looked at me and said,"Wow, you're an early riser!". My gyn was walking by and sticks his head in,"She's been awake since we moved her off the table... Give her a little drink so she can tell you what she needs. I'm going to talk to your family and hold my twins! Be good!" (mine were the first set of twins he'd delivered)

I got my morphine pump, my inflatable blanket (oh so much better than the ones out of the dryer!!! They inflate it with warm air.... oooooooooooooooo!!!) and napped 'til I got to my room.

My babies were delivered at 4:22 a.m. and 4:24 a.m. and at 7:30 a.m., I was in my room and out of bed!!! I'm not expecting to do this well this time, but it would be nice to think that I'll be close to that!!!

My time in the recovery room was hilarious! No pain, just a stupid head. My mom and DH were there and my Dr. was telling them how well everything went. I most emphatically told them how happy I was that it had went well for them! I had a turban of warm blankets on my head which felt nice, but I got snotty and told them to take it off(my DH is a 9/11 survivor and altho I loathe to admit it, I am very anti-turban-but that is a story for another day). There was a patient who had just had bypass a few beds away who believe it or not was the grandpa of a kid my kid takes Tae Kwon Do with. He was a real character, loud, flirting with the nurses, etc. I remember the nurses saying,"Settle down Louis, other people are trying to rest!" Louis was frisky and a little salty in his vocabulary, and apparently I told him to "CAN IT LOUIS!" and other patients clapped! They rolled me out to my room and I waved to everyone on the trip.

Hi, when I was in the recovery room after having a lymph taken out of my neck, I remember trying to sell my water bed to any one that came by, but I also told them to please let my husband know that I was ok, because he's such a worry wart.

I was in the recovery room for quite a while but have very little memory of it. I remember waking up with a lot of pain from a bladder spasm and saying I felt like I had to pee and it really hurt. I heard someone say I had a cath and I replied "I know but it really hurts". Someone handed me a morphine pump and I started tap dancing on it. Soon there were giving me a suppository for the pain and then I drifted in and out for a while. I was just starting to get a sense of where I was when they took me to my room.

Like JustJanice, I had the same experience. When I woke up in recovery, I don't remember pain, I just felt like I had to "pee" and tried to get up! The nurse told me I had a catheter in, but I still wanted to get up! After that it's foggy, but I remember a few nurses standing around and I told them they didn't have enough to do!!! I'm a pretty quiet person and would never say anything like that to anyone in my "right" mind.