spinal

I hope someone out there can help me. I am having a tah on July 9th. I asked the doc for an epidural and she agreed to a spinal. She mentioned wanting me to be in "twilight sleep" , but I told her I wanted to be fully awake. I hope I didn't make a mistake. All my friends seem to think so. Has anyone ever done it this way? What can I expect to experience during the surgery? Thanks for answering. Debby

I had a supra cervical abdominal hysterectomy on June 26th with a spinal block and the twilight sleep med. It worked very well for me. My time in recovery room was very short (about 1-2 hrs.) I didn't feel so groggy as with genera anethesia. I would go for some sort of sedation. I was awake but happy from the twilight stuff. I guess I fell asleep a few times and snored, the doctor said. The team maybe got a good chuckle out of that.
My sister had a complete abdominal hysterectomy 3 years ago with this type of anethesia. Bless you! Keep in touch.

Rayetta

Hi Debbie

I had my TAH last Wednesday with a spinal/epidural combination, and I was wide awake for the whole thing. It was great, I'd recommend it to anyone, so long as you're not squeamish.

My anaesthetist was concerned that I might have trouble at the beginning of surgery because they have to push the bowels up into the abdominal cavity to get them out of the way. But it just felt a bit odd, not terribly uncomfortable. It helped that I'd been warned about it and was expecting it to be worse. They tilted the table a little head-downwards, but it didn't bother me, in fact it was quite comfortable. They had a screen up, and covered my top half with a heated blanket because the theatre was cold. It was odd being numb from the diaghram down, because a couple of times I tried to laugh and it didn't work.

Every so often the anaesthetist asked me if I was all right or if I wanted some sedative, but there was really no need. The only thing I'd say was that it got a bit boring after an hour or so, and because my arms were held out on either side they got a bit achy. I kind of dozed off for the last half hour, though I could still hear what everyone was saying. They lost track of one of the dressings at one stage, and two nurses spent a good twenty minutes counting and counting and counting and counting until it turned up (inside me!). It's just as well they check these things.

The numbness took four or five hours to wear off, and because it wore off from the top down I could feel pain (a lot of it) from the incision before I could move my legs. That was the worst bit, but finally they got some analgesia going, and then I just slept till late in the day.

My anaesthetist explained that most of the problems people have with gas pains and constipation are because the bowels are paralysed by the general anaesthetic, not so much because of the handling they get during surgery. And that was certainly my experience - I've had some pain from the incision, but no real problems with getting the bowels working again.

Good luck, Debbie. I'm sure it will go well. I'm thinking of you.

Cath

I think you should do what you feel comfortable doing. My Dr. refused to allow a spinal or epidural due to the reasons mentioned in previous post(s)--table tilting and bowel packing, making it uncomfortable to breathe. Anyway, I therefore had general anest. for the first time in my life, and loved it. I was out without remembering anything, and they automatically administer anti naseau drugs, some sort of amnesia drug, and a reversing agent to wake you up quickly right about when the surgery is over. Also, the previous post mentioned pain --a BAD and scary word. I had absolutely NO pain when upon waking, thanks to an epidural for post op pain mgt. They do the epidural in pre op, then begin the meds enough time ahead of you waking that it is effective for you. There's nothing to be afraid about regarding general anest. anymore-lots of very new and very effective meds. In all honesty, I was also hoping for a spinal, and when Dr. refused I had no choice, and looking back, with ZERO pain, I am thankful for the general!!!