Anesthesia: The Last and First Thing You Heard

Riley3 · Dec 17, 2009

I had a Tummy Tuck in a freestanding surgical center

Right before going to OR..."Oh RSI kit..I know what that is we use those all the time in the ER..I am an ER......."

Woke up..Nurse..do you have any pain?

Me..OMG..Pain..what the hell did I do to myself!

Now my friend that was with me said (even though i dont remember it)..that all the way down to the OR I was explaining that I was a ER nurse and we have RSI kits that we use when we intubate our patients so I knew exactely what they were doing to me...blah blah..I guess I was quite the talker..

ErinDel, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2009

5-20-09. Pfo closed in my heart. Shakin like the dickens all the down to the operating room. Anesthesiologist gives me valium, didn't help much. Lie on table seriously about to crap my pants and I tell the anethesiologist to please take the et tube out gently so I don't feel it. Ivp of some wonder drug, versed and fentanyl. 2hrs later awake still shakin like the dickens from reaction to anesthesia. Throat killing me, also had tee done. On to next surgery.... 11-13-09. Friday the 13th... I had sinus surgery. Crna talkin to me bout school stuff yadda yadda.. I'm talkin bout all I know bout diff meds used during surgery, shaking like a leaf as usual then... " injecting propofol now erin" out like a light. Woke up with nose bandaged o2 on and a bloody gauze pad soakin my nose and down my throat. Horrible! Felt like my head was smashed with a bat. New goal, to have no surgeries in 2010!

Abbie Grace · Dec 17, 2009

The only time I've ever been put under was to get my wisdom teeth out. I remember the dental surgeon said to my dad "Okay, give your daughter a kiss because that's the last thing she's going to remember." And then my Dad kissed my forehead... and that was it!

I don't remember the first thing that happened when I woke up, though.

Apparently, I kept on scolding them for not giving me my antibiotics and they'd say "Look at your arm!" and I'd look down to see an IV and I'd say "Oh, oops, thanks!" Then, I'd say the same thing the next time they came by.

My Dad said that he was so proud of me for sticking up for myself, despite the fact that I was so out of it!

getoverit, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Dec 17, 2009

When I was at Camp LeJeune I got a compound fracture of my left radius. In pre-op the anesthesia doc started pushing something cold into my arm (I was 18...22 years ago so I have no idea what it was). the last thing I heard was someone yell "move!! he's going under!"

I woke up in a room next to an old Gunny Sargeant and he said "hey devil dog, you need anything?" Me and him hung out and watched old Andy Griffith reruns. Wasn't too bad, but then again, I try not to be one of the "weenies" topic of another thread.

psalm, RN · Dec 17, 2009

Before surgery I could smell one of the docs' aftershave and said I liked it, but I loved English Leather. Then I got a shot of something in my IV and I said (blush)..."All my men wear English Leather or they wear nothing at all". A commerciall in the 1980s.

After surgery getting wheeled to my room from recovery, I had to pee. The nurse and my husband were trying to explain to me that I had a catheter. I kept yelling for a bedpan. My roommate said "get her a bed pan". So I get put on a cold steel bedpan (1980s), and I jumped and said, "it's cold!". The nurse asked if I was better now and I said, "yes" and went to sleep.

Same roommate a night later. I knew it was Wed. night, and then got a shot of demerol. My roommate had more and more vistors coming in. She tells me later all of a sudden I say "Let us pray". I then prayed for my family, my doctor, my nurses, my roommate, missionaries by name. She told me all her visitors bowed their heads while I prayed. Then I paused....and finally said, "AMEN".

Good thing she understood me, we were both Baptists at the time...with Wednesday night being "prayer meetin' night".

LilgirlRN, ADN, RN · Dec 17, 2009

When I had my tubes tied many years ago.... CRNA "I'm gonna give you something to help you sleep." Me "OK" She pushes some sodium pentathol. Me "WOW this sh*t is great! They should sell it at the grocery store!" Everyone laughs.

In the recovery room. "Put your hands down by your sides or we will tie them down." Me "I'm just touching my tummy to make sure its OK."

More recently I had two surgeries in a months time. The guy that did the first one told me that I cried in recovery but I didn't recall it. So when I had the second surgery, I was asleep before I was even in the OR. When I woke up I thought, who's crying? OH it's ME. I apologized to the PACU nurse.

Spritenurse1210, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2009

I had my tonsils and adenoids removed at 10 years old. The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was getting tunnel vision, and just before i fell asleep, and i could only see pinpoints of the ceiling, was someone asking me if I liked baseball. the first thing i remember after that was hearing water running,pain in my throat, and feeling for my teddy bear. when I couldnt feel it I opened my eyes, I saw the teddy bear in my lap, picked it up and hugged it and then looked for the source of the running water. I then saw a nurse washing her hands. The nurse asked me if I was hurting and I just whispered "Ice " and winced because my throat hurt so bad. . She gave me some ice chips and pushed something into my iv and i fell back asleep. after that they took me to the pediatric floor and I had to stay there for a few hours, because I wasn't speaking. I got better though, and was released a few hours later.

RNMLIS · Dec 17, 2009

9/18/2009

spinal sx - disectomy, laminectomy, bone fusion 2 levels

Just after glancing at the clock, I heard

'I am giving you something to relax....

Upon hearing 'here she comes'...and I looked at the clock in disbelief it was 5 1/2 hours later and it felt like minutes...

I do wonder how they got me on the table, face down, and off the table

Up2nogood RN, RN · Dec 17, 2009

12/8/98 tubal ligation the morning after delivery...

Last thing I heard was from doc 'I thought the nurse said she just voided, looks like we're gonna have to cath her'.

First thing I heard after anesthesia....silence. In recovery I woke up to find my RN fast asleep. I couldn't talk and was shivering uncontrollably. The MOST terrible feeling I've ever experienced. She did wake up about 10 minutes later but I never said anything. She was also kind enough to run my gurney into a doorway. Hard. On the way back to my room. Thank god I never had to go back there again.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Dec 17, 2009

oh, thanks, guys! some of these are so funny that i now have orange juice sprayed all over my computer screen! this thread ought to have a "beverage alert!"

Tait, MSN, RN · Dec 17, 2009

When my husband was diagnosed with Ulcerative Proctitis I remember him after his first colonoscopy. He kept holding his arm up and going "what's this?"

"your IV dear"

"oh"

"what's this?"

"your IV dear"

"oh"

This went on for about ten minutes. :) We still joke about it from time to time.

The next time he went in he didn't want to ask me that question again over and over. So when I went in to see him afterwards he was wide awake. I asked him why they didn't sedate him, and I guess it was because they didn't have to scope very far. He told me then that he had been psyching himself up to say something else when he woke up, instead of fussing the IV.

I asked him what that was and he just simply replied,

"I love you"

Tait

twois · Dec 18, 2009

This thread has me cracking up... I've had a handful of surgeries in the last few years, so I think for my last one I told the crna/mda (who was trying to reassure me) that I was just fine, thank you, I knew what I was doing (whatever they'd given me to "relax me" had done a fine job), and I just wanted "to enjoy this." They laughed, but hey, it's kinda fun going under... what can I say? They let me quietly enjoy it. :-D

I don't remember what I said first when I woke up, but anesthesia always makes me cold and shiver, so it was probably some variation of "I'M COOOOOLD!"