Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 6:55 amEnzo wrote:Roll over on your side. OK. Anesthesia boy starts the drip and tells me we're on our way. I didn't have to count backwards, but he did say to me, "Omaha?" Nope. I was starting to fade. SO I said, "Here's a clue - a penny for your thoughts." "Lincoln!" was the last thing I heard.
I lived there and my father received his doctorate there. It's easy for me to remember that one.
Just like they predicted, next thing I knew, I woke up in the recovery room. Amazing to me I didn't feel groggy in the slightest. Nurse tried to foist apple juice on me, but I held out for OJ. Then another nurse disconnected the tubes and wires. Doctor came in and showed me the interior pictures. I'm all pink inside.
There are different types of sedation used. I know one person where they were just given valium, and they said it was hell. For me, up until the last test, they used "conscious sedation" - a combination of pain drugs and relaxants. It doesn't quite knock you out, but it messes with your long term memory. If you are nervous enough, you can "override" the drugs, at least to an extent. I do remember part of the first procedure, unfortunately.
With that stuff, my memory usually goes wonky for about an hour, and it feels very much like somebody has switched you off, though you might remember snippets of statements or questions you answered. For awhile, it is hard to do much of anything (answering simple questions is an effort), and it takes most of the day to sleep off the aftereffects. There are reports of some people losing most of the day's memories. The last time they used deeper anesthesia and gave me oxygen for it. At the same time, I came out of it far quicker and cleanly than with the other sedation.
Usually, they ask you to be careful about what you eat for a time afterwards, especially if they do any biopsies.
