Eyes Wide Open CABG Surgery--epidiural

[lance]

Although this post is not valve related (CABG) I thought it interesting to pass on.

There is a full-page article in the National Post about a CABG operation performed in Quebec using an epidiural and not general anesthesia. "The patient is coughing, is moving, is asking for a drink. It's pretty funny" said the surgeon. Operation took four hours and procedure has been performed several times previous to this one. Patient can either have a sedative or listen to soothing music through head phones.

Evidently they have performed CABG a few times this way and had been tried in India, Turkey and Germany.

There is a lot more to this article but basically that's what happened.

When do you ask will they do it for valvers?

 

[Ross]

Ain't no way their toying with me while I'm awake! I don't care if they can or not, it ain't happening.

 

[Yaps]

UHUH no way.. I will do the breathing exercises, I will hold my pillow.. have enough pain in my life...

 

[lance]

Something new ain't for you, eh

Something new ain't for you, eh

The article further states the patient had a very, very bad experience from the general anesthetic he received following an auto accident so he was very open the the epidural.

A Toronto doctor was quoted as saying "Most of these patients don't want to be awake for their teeth cleaning". He also feels it can be justified now for only for the rare patient who might end up stuck on a ventillator permanently if put under a general anesthetic.

I don't know about anyone else but I would have a major problem staying still that long listening to the dialogue between medical personnel and the sounds made by the saw.

Cheers!

 

[sue943]

No way Jose!

No way Jose!

No thank you very much, I had an epidural for the birth of my second child and the wretched thing wore off just as the going got good, no amount of topping up would get it working again and I had the full delights of a forceps delivery with no pain relief - so OHS, no way!

 

[aussigal]

I had the article sent to me as well...and I liked the idea til I realised I would hear all the goings on and that would freak me out to the MAX!

I'll go for more drugs please and knock me right out so I dont hear or remember a single-thing. Last thing i want to remember is ariving at the hospital a bit scared and then waking up in my nice private room full of flowers from loved ones with my family there smiling as i wake!

 

[lance]

Drug to not remember procedure?

Drug to not remember procedure?

I had the article sent to me as well...and I liked the idea til I realised I would hear all the goings on and that would freak me out to the MAX!

I'll go for more drugs please and knock me right out so I dont hear or remember a single-thing. Last thing i want to remember is ariving at the hospital a bit scared and then waking up in my nice private room full of flowers from loved ones with my family there smiling as i wake!

During my brother-in-law's hip replacement done with an epidural they gave him another drug, he remained awake and doesn't remember anything about the procedure. Maybe that's the sedative referred to in the article.

 

[RCB]

Bad experience?

Bad experience?

The article further states the patient had a very, very bad experience from the general anesthetic he received following an auto accident so he was very open the the epidural.

A Toronto doctor was quoted as saying "Most of these patients don't want to be awake for their teeth cleaning". He also feels it can be justified now for only for the rare patient who might end up stuck on a ventillator permanently if put under a general anesthetic.

I don't know about anyone else but I would have a major problem staying still that long listening to the dialogue between medical personnel and the sounds made by the saw.

Cheers!

How bad of an experience would it be if during OHS ( with the 1% of the unlucky ones)the doctor couldn't get the heart started and you heard the doctor calling out the time of your death! No thanks, I'll do it the old fashion
way- wake me when it is over

 

[Carrie]

Well, I don't know what procedure that is that is being referred to and I would say NO WAY to being awake for anything involving a saw.. but I did ask to remain awake for my knee surgery. They gave me some "feel good" in my arm, then gave me an epidural and I got to lay back and watch the whole thing on the camera. It was very cool! He took me on a "tour" of my knee with the little camera, pointing out the patella, meniscus, collateral ligaments, etc, then at one point he pointed the camera at my face and took a picture of me with it, hehe... It was absolutely fascinating and and I'm glad I did it. He gave me some of the pictures to take with me, including the one of my face. My reasons were twofold: 1. I deal with workers' compensation claims for a living, and what better way to understand the knee (which is a common WC claim) than to watch my own surgery and 2. I would rather avoid general anesthetic and its risks if it's not necessary.

But... NO WAY would I stay awake for heart surgery! Or anything to my abdomen/torso I think... **shudder**

 

[hensylee]

my local doctor (also one of the finest surgeons you can find) told me he had his appendix out with only a 'local anesthetic'!!!!! (before they had the wee surgeries they do nowadays).

 

[Barb]

Wow! Yes.

Wow! Yes.

I would definately do it. The amount of sedatives they would give would be very great. Plus you wouldn't have to go through a lot of the recoup procedures. Waking up with a ventilator is my worst nightmare. My mother was on one for 2 weeks this past year and it was very difficult as, each time they tried to get her off she couln't do it on her own......The rest of her body was in good health.........so her time left here could have been spent on a machine with ALL her faculties counting the dots on the ceiling......................VERY GRIM.......i must say.......

In my opinion
Barb

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I think I would need a LOT of the "I don't care, can I watch" juice to lay there and seem my chest being cut open and spread apart!

'AL Capshaw'

 

[catwoman]

How bad of an experience would it be if during OHS ( with the 1% of the unlucky ones)the doctor couldn't get the heart started and you heard the doctor calling out the time of your death! No thanks, I'll do it the old fashion
way- wake me when it is over

Sounds like this is used witih "beating heart" CABG procedures, not when the patient is on the heart-lung machine. So perhaps surgeon didn't need to restart the heart.

HOWEVER, things dooooooooo go wrong during OHS and I'd rather **not** overhear my surgeons talking about complications concerning my operation while it's underway.

Put me in the "just wake me when it's over" ....