oh my gosh, me too, waking up from surgery is my ultimate nightmare! I read a story in the paper about how common it actually is a few weeks before my tx, i called my tx nurse in a panic asking her all sorts about the monitoring processing i was terrified! As it happens with all my surgeries i tend to go the other way, all dozy for an hour after like to sleep it off haha!
Primtimer what happened, did they realise and put u back off, could u feel it?! Did they have a reason if its happened twice?
They definitely knew I was waking up, they freaked out and started dropping things on the floor and yelling at each other for me to be put back under. At first, altho I could feel the pain I couldn't move or even scream, it was like I was frozen or trapped inside my own body but in the next instant, I felt the pain and it took my breath away. Funny thing, altho I have never had children I had gone thru a Lamaze (birthing) class with a friend to be her "backup coach" and remembered a breathing technique they taught so I used that. I remember one of the nurses in the OR telling me that was a good idea and she held my hand and leaned over and actually started breathing with me but still...the pain was the worst imaginable! And altho I have never known why, they actually brought my mother into the OR. I remember holding onto the side of the bed railing and that nurses hand and breathing really hard and looking up in time to see her at the doorway but she covered her face with her hands and ran off. Later, she told me she was sorry for leaving me like that but that it scared her because she had never seen someone in so much pain before and she didn't know why they had brought her in, either. Gee, thanks Mom! Anyhow, I was too afraid to ask the staff or surgeon later so I have never known why they wanted her in there. They shouldn't have done that to her, I was all cut open and in pain...yes, that must have been terrible for her to have seen. Heck, it was terrible for ME so I am sure it was terrible for HER, too!
Anyways, after the first time it happened, the anesthesiologist told me that if I were to ever have surgery again in the future, to make sure future surgeons and anesthesiologists know that I am one of these people who wake up during surgery so that they can be prepared and keep me under. Well, just so happened, I did have to have another surgery and I warned everyone...right up until the last minute when they sedated me but nooooo, I woke up again! I had nitemares about it after that and sometimes still do but nothing major. Since then, I have found out that this happens to more people than we think and that there is some sort of "brainwave activity monitor" that anesthesiologists can use that will warn them if a patient is waking up so that they can keep them under so they don't fully awaken. If I ever have surgery again, you can bet that I will insist on them using a monitor!
Shame on me for not staying asleep while surgery is being performed on my body! lol
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