Surviving a major surgery

Have you gone through any major surgical process,I mean a kind of surgery where your life was at stake. In other words have you done any operation that was between a life and death.
Until now I have not gone through any kind of surgery. My wife went through gallbladder removal surgery, however, it was a simple operation that took only just about 40 minutes. My parents have not gone through any major surgeries. However, my mother in-law has done spinal surgery, where she just has 30percent survival chance.

 

I have had a major surgery. I won't go into detail, but the surgery saved my life. Sometimes major surgery has high risks, a lot of comfort comes with knowing that the surgeon is highly skilled.

 

I have had 6 "major" surgeries. I wouldn't really rank any life or death but I didn't really have any other options. Anytime you are put under anesthesia there are dangers. The danger of the surgery will also change with the quality do the doctor. I have had good surgeons and bad ones and it can affect the healing process.

 

I went to the ER feeling faint, they determined my heart rate was at 32 beats per minute. I said "I guess I'm not going home anytime soon".
Long story short, four hours after entering the ER, I'm in surgery getting a pacemaker installed.

 

I went to the doc about a lump, told it was an aggressive cancer with about 12weeks to live!
Six days later had radical surgery
Two years later after nearly going crazy was told they might have got it all!
fifteen years on and still here!

 

Listen, sometimes they DO get it all. I mean so they get the primary and histology sez, "You got the margins." Say they get the lymph nodes (or negative sentinel nodes) and then use radiation as a "hey, let's make sure" mechanism. Nothing says that a medical team can't win a war.

If it was a hot tumor (high s-phase) and it hasn't come back two years out, uhhhh, that sounds good to me. I mean, nasty tumors normally show back up well before 2 years. Over 10 yr = you've gone on with your life.

I know of a lung cancer case where the carcinoma was confined to one lobe. Surgeon said, "I think I got it. I at least bought him X years." He was correct. Patient shows up 5 years out w/pulmCarcinoma -- was that a recurrence of the original? No. That was a new tumor altogether; the fellow had smoked for 60 years -- go figure.

 

You had bundle branch block. Bradycardia under 40 bpm usually means loss of consciousness; therefore, your cardiac output must have been good, else you'd have been on the floor. An effective pacemaker placement is curative.

Stay on top of your condition. This they may have already told you, but what caused the bundle to fail in the first place? I'm no expert in this, but write me in a private conversation if you have basic questions weighing on your mind. I might be able to suggest questions you might ask your cardiac team. When I use the word "might", I deeply mean that -- I'm a grand total of one people and that's all I am.

 

In this day and age, anesthesia is not anywhere near as "risky" as in past decades. First you get your "happy" / "by-by" drugs, then when you are out you get agents that block the neuro-muscular junctions' activity. Such agents can be reversed if need be. The anesthesiologist can breathe for you in multiple ways; ex. bag-valve mask or anesthesia machine. Today's anesthesia machines and patient monitoring devices are super complex. Your carbon dioxide levels are perpetually monitored to prevent your blood from developing any pH issues. There are automated ECG reading software packages that alarm if your heart has any anomalies. On and on and on and on ... . Even before you are anesthetized, you are pre-oxygenated, which is to say that they load the hemoglobin of your red blood cells with oxygen to as maximized a saturation level as is reasonable. A BIS monitor watches your level of consciousness. On and on and on ...

If the anesthesia facility and team are up-to-date, then for heaven's sake HollowGirl, please do not worry. Being "fuzzy in the head" post-procedure is way normal, it sure doesn't mean that you took a hit to your cerebral cortex! If you hear negative stories about someone's experience, oft times it is about a patient that had neurologic insult prior to surgery or had standing vascular issues intracranially; i.e. their brain was walking-wounded to start with and it would have taken next to nothing to push them into a clinical situation. Please please please, not to worry should you require anesthesia in times future!

 

Just about everyone I know who has has a big operation and recovered has been left dumber for the experience!

They recovered physically but were much lesser between the ears! formally intelligent people became near retards!

I had a minor operation and my IQ dropped a little as I got retested after, still well into three figures but not as high!

 

So if these people did suffer loss of functionality, then there was gross incompetence on the part of the anesthesiologist. There are today nurse anesthesiologists, but I know that their training is extensive. What disturbs me are those improperly trained who are "under the supervision of a physician". If someone has a major surgery at an established hospital and still suffers neurologic compromise, then we have a case of malpractice here.

The anesthesia record should be subpoenaed for entry into the legal record -- oxygen saturation levels are perpetually monitored and recorded. Your blood oxygen saturation levels during surgery are equal to, or above, those levels you currently have sitting at your computer. All drugs given are recorded along with dosages. One drug that can cause some memory issues post-op is propofol. The color of propofol is white and among surgery staff, it is often referred to as the "milk of amnesia".

Your post I'm researching and am going to talk to some folk who are in the know concerning such matters (deeply in the know) about where the stats are at today. You are making me hit the periodicals and that is a good thing. As fate would have it, my wife has endured several surgeries. She has suffered no deleterious effect from having been through these procedures.

 

Now I am not a professional just a very observant person!
Non of those I observed actually knew or had been tested as to there IQ levels so there is no way to prove or quantify loss
other than my observations and without letters before or after my name they carry zero weight!
In my own case I have been tested before and after but as the tests were not official again zero weight!

And to top it off when mentioned to some of those I observed that I was concerned for there mental wellbeing I was greeted with denial and anger
at the meer suggestion of loss of intelligence! I still observe but no longer make any comments to them or theres!

 

You've gotten my interest. I'm going to do my reading and will be speaking with some physicians who are anesthesiologist educators. I've already seen some numbers that trouble me. So, current literature is not without its articles reporting some long term negative sequelae. I'm feeling uneducated and am going to do something about it.

 

Please let us know how it go's

 

I realize that medicine has improved over the years, but most of my fears stem from the fact that I am a natural redhead. Most people are unaware that we require more anesthesia than others. There has not been much testing done on the subject but some, I added some articles below.

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/the-pain-of-being-a-redhead/?_r=0
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1362956/
http://www.webmd.com/women/news/20021015/redheads-need-more-anesthesia

My father is a natural redhead and the last time he had surgery, they had to shock his heart to wake him back up. They said it was because they had given him too much anesthesia. My dad tried to explain to the anesthesiologist before the surgery that he probably would not need as much as they thought he would but they didn't listen to him. That is also part of my fears, doctors don't seem to respect or heed advice from their patients about themselves. My father explained to the doctor how tired he was considering he lives on coffee. He drinks several pots of coffee every day. He also works night shifts and had worked the night before the surgery. When you have surgery you cannot drink after midnight, so my dad had worked for 8 hours with no coffee just before showing up. It was also probably the longest he had been without coffee in probably 40+ years. I'm not sure how many times they had to shock him to wake him back up, but it was more than once and his chest was very bruised.

I don't know that I will ever be comfortable getting put under.

I wouldn't say that I am dumber from my surgeries at all. I would say my surgeries changed me as far as the experience. I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I am pretty smart. I never felt dumber after any of my 6 surgeries.

 

OK, so I lucked-out today and was able to talk to two anesthesiologists who passed their boards not that long back -- which is to say they are up on the literature like nobody's business. One sez something to the effect of, "Not a problem." Next physician sez that there is concern among the anesthesiology community concerning anesthetic gasses such as sevoflurane, isoflurane, desflurane, ... . These gases are used when procedures go long or the surgery is extensive. However, note that many folk do not require these gasses, they are anesthetized using nerve blocks, sedatives, and propofol. Using the latter methodology is low, very low, risk. Again, it looks as if the concerns are directed towards the gasses.

Note that the use of gasses has been shown to be very safe. The cases showing up wherein some deficit has been documented is definitely raising eyebrows. We will be seeing more studies because of this. Someone in my family had multiple extensive surgeries and survived without deficit. And I would not want to frighten anyone necessarily about such. Where one gets into the realm of concern is when the patient is very young or very old -- you know what I mean by this, it is the extra vulnerability factor that raises risk.

If someone is planning surgery, look to hospitals and clinics with up-to-date equipment and whose surgical staff are keeping their certifications up to date. Their certification is called MOCA, Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program provided by the American Board of Anesthesiology. Off the top of my head, I don't remember how many years they have until they must re-certify for MOCA. The testing for this is rigorous, very rigorous. Anesthesiologists must re-certify throughout their careers.

 

At some point in surgery, your father's heart developed an arrhythmia incompatible with life -- most likely ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. I can think of some other scenarios, however that would be hunting for zebras in among horses. For someone to have given the level of anesthesia to induce this, speaks to a major error. Another explanation would be that of excessive anesthesia coupled with a cardiac condition making the heart susceptible to arrhythmia. Getting into this topic would be a royal adventure.

 

Glad you are still here. There is so much now on the Internet now on natural cancer treatments. A thought to ponder on is that with every decade, cancer rates are increasing. So we need to look back to see what is different now. It's the food we eat mainly and lack of excercise. People grew their food without chemicals and raised their livestock to eat. Plus they worked hard and enjoyed a simple life.