complicated emotions the week before

I'm very glad to have found this site! I have surgery
September 8; had preop yesterday and admitted to
anesthesiologist my only real worry about surgery
is nausea. That's not the whole story, though.
My mom lives 250 miles away and has congestive
heart failure. I'm as worried about her finding out
about my surgery as I am about myself. (Or more
so.) That and the bombardment of anti surgery
messages has been the most upsetting things these
three months of waiting (and debating every other
week to cancel). Just last week someone told me
"Take Vitamin E it'll dissolve it!" (I have a 12 cm
mass of three years' duration and throbbing
pain.) So I'm trying to find ways to not stress that
the phone will ring and I'll have to run to be with
Mom the day before the surgery. The stress is
tremendous.
Any suggestions to clear these frantic thoughts would
be much appreciated.

Holy moly! how does a person help with those feelings!!?? Of course you are going to be worried about your mom. You know you need the surgery for yourself and can't help that.Unfortunatley if something does happen to your mom you need to make the choice, do you run to her side or keep your surgery date. She could be just fine!! YOu never know. But also you need to remember that there are professionals out there to take care of your mom in her time of need and you need to get better too. I am new here but I hope that helped you.

I also had anti-surgery messages sent my way. Keep remembering why you are having the surgery and keep faith that it will help you!

Best wishes - Joanne

Wow, you have a lot on your plate and the emotional turmoil that you are experiencing seems perfectly warranted to me.

I know that this is much easier said than done, but try not to worry too much about your mom. You have to take care of yourself in order to be able to take care of your mom. My sister is a nurse, her husband is a gyn. onc., and she keeps telling me that I need to be in the best physical and emotional shape that I can be prior to surgery. It will help in the recovery process.

Please know that we are here for you. Vent away!

Take care -

I agree with the other ladies comments. You need to take care of "You" and if something does happen with your mom God forbid, she will have the care she needs with her doctors. I'm sure she would agree with us that you need to care of yourself. :-) About the nausea, I too worried about that before surgery because I get so sick. The anesthesiologist gave me something in my IV not to make me sick however......I was given morphine shots for pain and that made me very sick. The medicine that was given to me to prevent the nausea in operating room didn't last and the nurses keep pumping me with morphine for pain which was making me very sick. Can you amagine puking with a sore belly? Terrible!!! Anyway, please ask for some other kind of pain shot (motrin family, can't remember the name?) I don't know if you have ever had morphine or not but I'd play it safe and get something else. I have a friend who is a nurse and when she came to visit me and saw how sick I was, she said it was probably the morphine and she was right!!! I feel that if I had not been given the morphine I would have been just fine after sugery.

My prayers are with you & your mom. ^i^

Thank you to everyone for your kind replies. Re nausea (about
wish I'm pretty terrified) -- they told me I'll have a PCA pump
thing. When do you ask them to switch the med? I hadn't
thought there was anything besides morphine!

Hi there,

Be sure and tell your anethesiologist about your nausea concern. I told mine about my previous severe reactions to anesthesia, and he put a patch behind my ear before surgery (I think it was a strong motion-sickness drug----not sure). It worked like a charm! Never had any nausea (I was told to keep it behind my ear for 3 days post-op) thru the entire experience.

There are other drugs for pain that they can give you. You might be one of those few people who can handle morphine but why take the chance? Tell them you heard that a lot of people get very sick with morphine and you want another kind of pain killer. Tell the nurse in pre-op who takes all your medical info. Morphine might be the cheaper drug??? I will call my doctor today and find out what they gave me for pain. I was so sick in recovery and the nurse gave me a shot that stopped it right away. Awesome shot!!! When I was taken to my room I started to get sick again (not knowing it was the morphine) and I told the nurse that I want the nausea shot they gave me in recovery. She said she would have to call my doctor first and I said FOR GOD'S SAKE CALL HIM!!! :-) I was able to get another nausea shot and that is when my sickness ended. Just know that you don't have to suffer from nausea anymore. :-)

blessings 2 U ^i^

I was very concerned about nausea too. I had visions of waking up from surgery and throwing up and ripping the staples open. I get sick to my stomach very easily (threw up in the doctor's office 3 times the day I found out about TAH, pass out when blood is taken, etc). This was noted on my chart at the hospital during pre-op. I also told the anesthesiologist the morning of surgery and was told they could put something in my IV so it would not be a problem. Whatever they put in there stops the nausea before it starts. When I met my nurses/aides after surgery, I mentioned this to them too. I was assured that it was noted on my chart and that if I began to feel sick, all I had to do was call and they'd give me a shot. I was given a morphine pump the day of surgery, and only felt sick once. I requested a quick shot just as a precaution. It worked within minutes of receipt. They injected it into the plastic tube on my hand rather than into the IV bag. On day 2 I felt very sick right after they got me out of bed for the first time (morphine was removed by then). I laid down on the bed and requested another shot. Again, it worked within minutes. I had no other problems with nausea after that. I was given Percocet for the remainder of my hospital stay, then Darvocet after returning home. I only used the pills a few days (I didn't like the constipation), but they did not give me nausea. Prior to surgery, my doctor advised me to speak up and let everyone I came in contact with know that nausea is a problem for me. Since it was on my chart, the medication was already prescribed and the nurses did not have to contact the doctor for approval. I wish I could remember what the medication is called so I could give you a name. Good luck!

Hi Sondra,
I'm going to have a patch as well. Did you have morphine?
It's great to know you can go home with the patch.