Surgery! (i'm scared)

<p>Ok i'm going into surgery next week for my jaw thing. I have a slight (very vey slight) underbite and i'm not really sure what they're gonna do but I have to stay there overnight and i'm going to have a massive bruise on my lower face area. And that I'm going to be in pain for 1.5 weeks or something..</p>

<p>I'm quite scared.. Like, i've never been under anethesia.. I once watched this documentary about people awakening during surgery, and not being able to move and scream but feeling every cut going through their organs.</p>

<p>Has anyone been under the knife or know of any people with weird experiences?
Is it rare to wake up during surgery? omg what if i'm allergic to it and die?? I think i read that somewhere also!</p>

<p>I've searched some things on the internet but all the doctors are like, 'it's so safe. it's so great. blah blah blah. come to me.'
and I'm not sure whether to believe them or not. They are doctors and doctors always lie! haha</p>

<p>It is very rare to wake up, they monitor things like that and can fix it. Don't worry or get too nervous it will likely go fine. Nervousness sometimes makes it harder for anesthesia to work so they have to give you more. Also, calm down, read a book, watch a movie or something before the surgery and trust the doc. They almost surely know what they are doing and you will probably be fine except for the normal bruising and such from the surgery.</p>

<p>NoFX,</p>

<p>I've been under general twice. It's really neato... until you wake up and realize that, "ow, something just happened when I was passed out." Otherwise, calm down and enjoy the experience.</p>

<p>Look, you're probably more likely to die in a car accident on the way to the surgery than during the surgery itself. Take comfort in that. ;)</p>

<p>How do you know it's general aneasthesia? </p>

<p>Anyways, most of the time they do tests on you before they know what kind of anaesthesia to administer....take a chill pill. Doctors study more than any other profession.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Doctors study more than any other profession.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, they study A LOT, but I don't know whether or not they study more than any other profession...</p>

<p>Engineers study a lot, so do attorneys.</p>

<p>I hear that professors study a lot. In fact, I think their job is to study and write stuff. Ostensibly, that is.</p>

<p>Some people dream during surgery, but for my two hour surgery it was as if I closed my eyes for a few moments and then woke up. I was in a lot of pain (septoplasty, tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy.....this stuff hurts a lot more at 19 years of age than it does when you are younger) and felt very very groggy. All I remember is the nurses putting some warm blankets on me, the nurses calling my name at the completion of the surgery, and then being wheeled out to the recovery area. My pain lasted for 5 to 6 weeks, getting less and less each week.</p>

<p>justinmeche,</p>

<p>That sounds like quite the experience.</p>

<p>Doctors study all their lives. What are you guys talking about?</p>

<p>So do engineers, lawyers, and professors.</p>

<p>What's your point?</p>

<p>my friend got jaw surgery because she had an underbite. she had to have her mouth wired for the summer and got a chin full of putty. but now she looks fabulous!</p>

<p>I wonder what plastic surgeons study...do they study how to make a more perfect looking boob, or how to stop making such huge scars on breast reductions....hmm...I wonder?</p>

<p>Or how to help the burn victim with their disfigured face, or the child born with a cleft palette...?
I also don't appreciate some of the frivolities of plastic surgery, but you have to realize that there are many plastic surgeons who are practicing to help people with real disfigurations and problems. Don't put down a whole profession...</p>

<p>I've had general anesthesia several times. I felt nothing while the surgery was going on. It was as if I closed my eyes and then woke up. I didn't dream or anything.</p>

<p>I've read that it's a good idea to take the pain meds that they offer after surgery. Don't wait until the pain becomes severe before taking the meds. You get more pain relief if you take the meds early.</p>

<p>When you come out of surgery, you may be very cold. That's normal. Apparently, that's shock or something. It's OK to ask for a blanket.</p>

<p>I really like my last doctor because the last time that I had surgery, she held my hand while I was getting anesthesia. Very comforting.</p>

<p>I've had general anesthesia for my wisdom teeth. I was nervous the day before, but when I go there, and fell asleep, it was all good! And when I woke up, I wanted to go back to sleep, back to the nice place. :-)</p>

<p>NoFX -</p>

<p>I've had three major operations and have mondo scars to prove it. Don't worry about waking up or dreaming during surgery. It's not going happen. General anesthesia is different from sleep. For one thing there is no sense of time having passed. When you sleep for say 10 hours, you wake with the sense of having slept a long time. By contrast with anesthesia it is all instantaneous. You feel yourself drifting away one moment and the next you immediately wake up with the nurse telling you it's all over and everything went fine. It's as if all the hours of surgery took about 5 seconds.</p>

<p>There will be pain when you wake up. It will lessen every day, but it may be with you for days or weeks, depending on how big and serious the surgery was.</p>

<p>Patients often have nausea when they first wake up from surgery, which is why they won't give you anything to drink. When they do allow you some ice or a little bit of water, go easy on it until it's apparent that your stomach can handle it. Believe me, you do NOT want to vomit right after you've had surgery.</p>

<p>Good luck. I'm sure everything will go fine. When you get back on CC, tell us all about it.</p>

<p>I was actually given something to eat after my surgery. I chose toast but then immediately remembered that my throat was killing me (from the tonsil removal) and that the coarse toast would only make things worse. So I asked for jello. That throat pain was 100x worse than any old sore throat from a cold.<br>
I was bed-ridden for around 5 days without feeling better. After taking some kind of steroid given to me by my doctor and taking a nap, I felt significantly better. I don't know if it was the pain killers or a bad reaction to the anesthesia that made be feel bad for so long. Whatever it was, the steroid made me feel better and brought my appetite back.</p>

<p>i had anasthesia when I was four. the only thing i remembered was: doctors dragging (yes, dragging since i was kicking my way off their arms) me into the theater, putting me onto the operating bed, me screaming and crying for mommy and daddy who happened to be wathcing outside, they put the oxygen mask over me, and after that i just woke up in my hospital bed, aching all over. i can't even open the door handle without wincing.</p>

<p>After having my teeth knocked out by a baseball when I was younger, I went under general anesthesia to have surgery done on my mouth...it's cool...All I remember is a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach, and the doctor said some really lame joke, which got me laughin uncontrollably...then, I woke up. My mouth hurt for a good week, but it was all good. It was like cosmetic surgery on my mouth at the same time of having my teeth repaired...I am not complaining!</p>