Waking Up During Surgery

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

I have just been reading the horrendous case of Canadian Donna Penner, who, undergoing abdominal surgery, woke up in the operating theatre just before the surgeon made his first incision. The unlucky woman endured excruciating pain despite being unable to communicate, due to the drug-induced paralysis and survived to tell the tale. I was disconcerted to read that, according to studies, approximately one in 19000 patients "accidentally" wakes up during surgery!

Have you, or anyone you know, ever experienced this, or anything similar?

[Sqad]

Danny..OK you were awake but not paralysed....a frightening experience to which a legal action could be entertained. That is terrible.
This thread is about, i presume, as Prudie has said, someone who is being operated on, paralysed (cannot speak) and is in pain.

[dannyk13]

I think that would be worse than what I felt.

[New Judge]

“If you are conscious, but paralysed and can feel pain, then you are awake and that IS a big deal.”

Indeed it is. I had a tonsillectomy performed in the 1970s. I’d had the usual pre-med and was given the barbiturate (?) injection in the theatre’s ante-room. I became immediate paralysed. Then I felt the anaesthetist put the mask over my face to administer gas. I was still fully aware of what was happening, could hear everything going on and could feel every contact with my body. Then I felt instruments inserted into my mouth (they jack your jaw open and raise your head from the table on a contraption that resembles an oil derrick so as to extend your throat). I was prepared for the worst (I’d had my tonsils lanced whilst fully conscious three months earlier as I’d almost died suffering from Quinsey so had some idea of what to expect). Then I heard the anaesthetist declare that one of the gas bottles was empty and I’d not been given sufficient. I heard the bottles changed over, the stuff removed from my mouth and gas finally administered.

I mentioned this to the ward sister when I was recovering and she suggested that I’d been dreaming. However, when the surgeon came to see me on his rounds I mentioned it to him. The sister told me not to be so silly (they were like that then) but the surgeon accepted my version of events and apologised.

It was quite a terrifying experience and not one I would wish on anybody. It has had a lasting effect on me and the thought of any surgery (I’ve been fortunate to need none since) fills me with utter dread. I suppose today I’d be in line for a few hundred thou in compo.

[Sqad]

NJ

" I’d be in line for a few hundred thou in compo."
A few thou I would say.
That is an unacceptable standard of medical care.

[albaqwerty]

blinking heck NJ.
I had me tonsils out in the 70's, fortunately didn't experience anything like you.

Now, if this happens to '1 in 19,000' would seem to be a bit more common than that from the comments on here.

[Barmaid]

I think I shall step away from this thread now. Danny and NJ have expressed one of my worst fears!

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Wow, new Judge, that must have been a terrible experience- a terrible moment for the surgeon too, when he realised!

[Sqad]

Barmaid........I have done over 30,000 operations in my time and as far as i know, it has never happened once. In fact I can't think of it happening to any patient in the Health Region in that time.
Don't worry.

[New Judge]

"...a terrible moment for the surgeon too, when he realised!"

As far as I can recall he didn't seem over-fussed, Hanzi (nowhere near as fussed as I was, anyway).

[tinkerbell23]

Yes my grandad in the mid 90s woke up on the table x

[Sqad]

Waking up "on the table is not a problem and one often wakes up "on the table" at the end of the operation.....painfree and no paralysed.
The problem is and the point of this thread, is waking up in the middle of the operation, paralysed and feeling pain.
Fortunately this is a rare occurrence.

[Jackdaw33]

I don't see how any blame can be attached to the surgeon, it's the anaesthetist who has made a balls-up.

[thistles]

I woke up while having a third knee replacement, I heard the sound of the hammer being used to push in the new part, also felt the movement of the knee being beaten down into place, I hooked both of my hands over the cover, and sais " there is an awful lot of noise in here", then whoooosh they knocked me out.