OK, all you veteran surgery folks....since I'm next I'm curious as to what type anesthesia you were given. I'm scared to death of General anesthesia and want the regional (*twilight*) type I had last August when they removed a hemorrhoid from my butt. I called the surgeon's office today to see about changing it, as I'm scheduled to have the general, but the Dr. was out til next week. I told them to run my options by him and try to allow for the regional. I'm thinking some of you had the regional also(?)

Hugh

Hi Hugh,
From what I understand, regional anasthesia is done by giving a needle in the spine, on your lower back there.
I had local anasthesia, with sedative. If you read my posts in the surgery topic, you'll see that local anasthesia was SEVERELY painful, even though I was on Demerol. I took 5 needles in the anus and screamed with each one. I would have much preferred general anasthesia because I was afraid of the pain and I was really scared of being awake during surgery. However, my clinic didn't go general anasthesia, so I had to be a trooper and deal with it. Obviously I survived (lol) so it wasn't that bad, but it was painful as hell. I think everyone else in this forum went completely down under (haha Aussie pun). Gen anasthesia has more side effects though; nausea, vomiting, headaches are common when you come out of it. Everyone here seemed to be fine though.
If you want my advice, take the general anasthesia :)

Hugh,
Just wondering what your concern is with GA?
I had GA, and although in my general day to day life I never take drugs, antibiotics etc etc, i am totally for natural health, this HAD TO BE DONE!! I was not given the option to have a regional or a local, and would not want one either.. The side effects i experienced from the GA was about 1 day of nautiousness.. which I could definitely live with.
I would not want 5 painful needles in my arse or ESPECIALLY a regional which G says is a needle in the spine... that seriously concerns me.. the spine is the life flow from your brain to the rest of your body, I would not be putting anything in there :shock: just incase!!
anyway, im interested as to why you dont want the GA
Cheryl

I'm not very well versed in the different types of anesthesia. By "regional" what I *meant* was the type anesthesia I had last august....a twilight sleep where you may be awake during the surgery but you don't remember a darned thing. NO, I DON'T want the needles! I'll take the general over that....but I was wondering if anyone had the "twilight" type or were *most* of you knocked completely out -- which is what my surgeon intends to do. It's a deeper, slightly more risky type of anesthesia than the twilight type I had....it also involves longer recovery (from the anesthesia) and can cause complications for certain people for up to a year (for instance, the risk of stroke and heart attacks goes up for at-risk people for a year after general anesthesia).

Hugh

hey there,
i am wondering if twilight is the same as having an IV in your arm, giving you some valium and then something a little extra to take you to lala land......
not that i got really great news today but that was sorta what i was explained would be provided for me. :shock: if i made a certain decision.
this sounds rather easy and it was described as being local as opposed to general.
hmmmmmm......

Can you tell what decision?

Yeah, everything goes in through an IV with the "twilight" stuff, right after the demarol (I can't spell this morning).

Hugh

well i do have a fear of something going wrong, whether it be with my heart, testicles, or colon!
so i am an advocate - even though it takes me a while to build up courage - to take preventative steps to have good health.
i think a colonoscopy would be great so the doc can see inside and hopefully see if i do have any kind of digestive conditions so that i can improve my understanding of how to take care of my whole system in general.
so i know that i want a colonoscopy and i am aiming for mid february - after valentine's day. and today i had some calming feeling inside that told me if i have to get some ass repair then it will be okay.
i just hope that i have improvements to look forward than perpetual damage. ie, i am ready for the fistulotomy or fissurectomy/LIS, whatever may be, to have a healthy ass and colon........
and i just have to trick my body, that i am just going in for a colonoscopy and leave it at that. not to be nervous about the local and that when i wake up, i will be in a different situation but hopefully with positive results all around.
when i look at it that way, i feel a bit more at ease.
for now, i am going to tackle these issues again and if i am unsuccessful, then i have to try another route which are these additional surgeries.
i am so happy that cheryl has had positive results and other peeps too, that why can't that be for me too? or any of us.
i am the only one to convince myself that this is all for good and that i have to believe that this is the best course of action for now. i've tried. and i'll keep trying. part of these surgeries is just another way of trying. i owe it to myself to be able to enjoy my bowel movements again without fear of the toilet :lol!:
so mid february is my target date for something to happen.
i hope you are doing good ithurts as i know you are going for your journey next week. i hope you feel some peace. i probably will be jittery but i hope that i can be strong and think good thoughts and feel good about my decisions. i want the best health for me in the end.
as i am sure you do too.
it's scary.
but i think there comes a time when you can make peace with it and calm yourself a bit to take a step forward.
big hugs!

wow...my friend my friend......i can only try to get near what your going thu... but my fear i thought was not one that i could handle myself..i asked god to just freakin take me already..i was so overwelmed with pain...but you seem to have a great head start on me..you found this room and the people here that have gone thu or are going thu alot..
keep posting/keep sharing and keep asking.. and im sure your on your way to becoming a person again.. if you read my postings..under the giz's new ass/// youll kinda see how i transformed from one peson to another..
i would love to be able to help someone as this room has helped me..
good luck to you..and keep your chin up!/// its gotta get better!.... your mind seems to be in the right set.. so now its your other half that will catch up to it!
good luck to you./.
the giz

hey happyass, i just wanted to say ive had two colonoscopies now and they arent that much fun and they dont always giv u the asnwers u want. still they dont no what i have.lol. if u have it done make sure they put u under sedative properly. my first time they didnt and it hurt loads. feel free to ask me any uestions regarding the procedure if u want:-)

xx