A Question

[boxerlover]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to ask those of you that have had Surgery, Did you have a G.A or a Epidural? Im not sure what to do any advice would be great.

Thanks karen x

 

[Jamie]

I had an epidural and it worked really well. They give you something to relax you before they give you the epi, so all I felt was some pressure on my back for a slight moment...then out. You're not awake for any of the procedure and I was comfortable when I awoke. The epi lasted until the next day. I opted not to get a femoral block, though.

 

[Dawnie]

Hi Karen, I too asked the same question, I was terrified of being aware of what was happening, but the anaethetist talked me round to a spinal, because I had two done he said I would be under GA for 3 1/2 - 4 hrs and that was a long time. I agreed, on the condition that if I started 'freaking out' when I heard anything, that he would take me right under with sedation. But I have to be honest and say that although I dozed quite a bit there were times when I was aware, by noise and pressure (not pain), of what was happening and I can honestly say it did not bother me in the least. Somehow, although I knew it was happening to me, I became disassociated from it, and I can honestly assure you that it was not in the slightest bit distressing.
Hope that helps with your decision. Dawnie. XX

 

[cotton1958]

My hospital, in Atlanta, no longer does epidurals for knee replacements. I learned this in my knee class. My surgery was exactly 2 hours. I didn't experience any problems with general anesthesia.

____________

BTKR 8/09

 

[FrogFeathers]

General anesthesia. There was no way I wanted to be anywhere near awake when everything happened. I didn't want to hear anything, see anything, smell anything... I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up after it was all done.

And, I did.

 

[Max Wallace]

I had the femoral blocks with a morphine pack and felt nothing for 3 days it was great.

 

[cotton1958]

OH, I also had the femoral blocks with the cocktails. They lasted a little bit over a day, plus had morphine pump...they switched it over automatically to dilaudid.

 

[Josephine]

I had a spinal but I wasn't awake for the op. I was sedated and slept soundly throughout. Was nice to have the pain free period afterwards as well. Spinals is pretty much standard practice in the UK and generall speaking, patients don't get a choice.

 

[ship4]

I had GA and a femoral nerve block in each leg. Surgery was a Wednesday and I did not get out of bed until Saturday morning when the nerve blocks wore off. By this time I had been transferred by ambulance to the rehabilitation hospital. I was there Friday afternoon and went home the following Thursday afternoon. I was put on Dilaudid, Visteril, and Celebrex.

 

[Linda2]

I had a spinal each time and was blissfully unaware of anything that was going on, but I didn't have the general anesthesia to overcome later. I really preferred it.

 

[calling_all_angels]

I had a general. Spinal's do not work on me. I have a old horse riding fall that messed that up for me.

 

[dcdowden]

I had a spinal and a femoral nerve block as well as propofol to put me out for my knee replacement. Propofol is the magic drug that Michael Jackson made infamous recently. The great thing about the propofol is that when I woke up I was fully alert and had no pain because of the spinal. I had no nausea either. They did put on a knee brace for the first day when I got out of bed because of the femoral nerve block. The therapist had to OK when to take of the brace based on when I demonstrated the my quads were working again.
Doug

 

[FrogFeathers]

I had the femoral blocks with a morphine pack and felt nothing for 3 days it was great.

I had the femoral block too, but I was in the handful of people that it didn't work for. I told them that the first day and that they could take it out, it wasn't doing anything for me. But they said I "just didn't realize it was working". I slammed that button every chance I had and nothing worked.

When they took it out on the Saturday (surgery was a Wednesday), it made no difference in my pain level. But for some reason, they chose not to believe me. :sct:

They did give me a single shot of IV morphine in the middle of the night. The nurse put the needle into my IV portal and I said, as she pressed the plunger part down, "How soon will I.... fffffeeeeeeeeellll.... thhhhhuuuuuhhhh... druuuuuuuggsssss....zzzzzzzzz." :hehe:

I had Oxycontin and Oxycodone... and that one single shot of morphine. Aside from almost instant sleep, I enjoyed it quite a bit (four hours of straight sleep was wonderful).

 

[cindy88fan]

I had both. I felt fine the next day. The day of the surgery I felt I guess fuzzy. But they didn't want my legs moving for 18 or so hours.

 

[abunnybabe]

I am set up to have the spinal tomorrow with lots of sedation. I specifically told the anesthesiologist that I do not wnat to hear a work of anything, lol. They said they keep the spinal catheter in for 24 hours attached to the pain pump. In theory, this sounds great, keeps the leg numb for day one of recovery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

 

[Texas]

Hi I have GA and a nerve block but the nerve blocked leaked if i had , had a choice i would have done the epidural.............

 

[skigirl]

I had GA---I wanted to get right up after surgery and not have my legs paralized for a day or so. Also, I did not want a urinary catheter.

I got back to my room and walked to the bathroom an hour or so later--changed my clothes and got back in bed.

When I had a femoral block for a different surgery, I fell down constantly--my legs just did not work. I would never have another one--I did not want anything that would keep me in bed. I need to be able to move around.

 

[boxerlover]

Thanks everyone I go for my pre-op on Monday so it will probably be decided then but I didn't realise Jo that I might not have a choice being in the UK I hav'nt been in Hopital for many years, but the Spinal does sound good it's just the thought of hearing and feeling anything that scares me.

karen x

 

[Josephine]

Well, people aren't left awake unless they ask to be. But I played safe and stated unequivocally that I wanted to hear and see nothing! The anaesthetist said it wasn't a problem and it's not. They just give you a knock-out drop via your IV and the next thing you know, you're in recovery! Just say you want to be knocked out and it'll be done though mostly they would do it anyway. It's a long time for a person to lay immobile on a narrow, not very soft table so we tend to sedate them for that reason alone.

 

[boxerlover]

Thanks Jo feel better now that sounds good to me just waking up in recovery. I thought if you had a Spinal you were awakeThank goodness for bonesmart.

karen x