Are you scared of operations?

eskimo

(Firstly, I'm not a doctor - this is just about my own fears and hang-ups! This is my take on my own experience. My opinions here aren't fact; I'm only posting this coz I'm curious what other people think of the subject! I could be totally wrong about anything I say. This isn't a medical post, it's only about personal fears and worries)

I've never been scared of the thoughts of an operation because I thought "the doctors know what they're doing and are only going to help, the operation is only going to make things better!" I never understood why people had such huge reservations about operations. I was always firmly of the belief that operations were straight-forward and could only ever do good. (now bare in mind i'm only 20 so we're talking bout when I was a kid!)

Four weeks ago I had a tonsillectomy in a Dublin hospital. I wasn't worried in the slightest. The only thing bothering me was the thoughts of not being able to eat/talk/function properly afterwards. When the nurse gave me sedatives "to calm my nerves before the operation", I understood that someone might be nervous, but sedatives?? It seemed a bit dramatic. I wasn't nervous! Excitedly curious, more than anything.

Over the next seven days after the operation my throat bled twice which was apparently pretty uncommon following a tonsillectomy and I spent a total 5 nights in hospital. But two days after being discharged the third time, I woke up choking on blood - pumping out of my mouth, it had covered my pillow and sheets. I ran and woke my parents who then drove me straight into A&E - for the third time. I was coughing up blood like there was no tomorrow for the best part of an hour. The doctors couldn't believe it when they saw me back. They summonsed me to 5 more nights in hospital and put me on the emergency list for surgery if I bled again. I bled again that night, for the fourth time.

I was regretting having the tonsillectomy at all. And now I was worried for my health. Why did I keep bleeding? What was wrong with me? The doctors certainly couldn't figure it out. Was there something serious wrong with my blood? Was there something the doctors weren't picking up on? I was driving myself crazy with worry.

When the fourth bleed occured, I wasn't taken to theatre like they said they would. Instead I was told to just wait it out. When the doctors discharged me after 5 nights, it came to light that a mistake was made by one of the specialists - he accidentally removed me from the emergency list and told the doctors I didn't need surgery!!! I nearly had a panic attack when I heard this! But anyway, it was now 4 days later and the wound seemed to have healed so they didn't think it necessary to bring me to theatre.

"We can't guarantee you won't bleed again, but there's no point in keeping you here any longer for the sake of 'just in case'." is basically what they told me when discharging me for the fourth time following 13 nights in total spent in hospital and my emergency operation being accidentally cancelled. I had lost all faith in these doctors by this stage and to be honest they had me frightened. It's now four days later and I haven't bled since, which is a record! I've been back to Dublin to see the doctor who performed the operation and he said I was now 99% healed, thank god. He couldn't believe it when I told him; and he apologised too.

But ever since all of this I am scared of going asleep at night. I put off going to bed until I'm half-dead with tiredness and my body just gives out. After I was discharged the 3rd time, I experienced absolutely terrifying medication-induced sleep hallucinations one night. I'm also nervous and panicky most of the time, but it's getting better as the days go on.

So since my operation my mind has changed big time. Now I look back and think How could I have been so stupid to not even consider the risks and side-effects?! Do the thoughts of an operation make you nervous or scared?

Ickle Magoo

Anything that involves my body & unatural intervention makes me nervous but I have to weight up the risks & compare them to the effects on my life if I don't go ahead with treatment or an operation.....

Glad you are feeling better, I find the loss of control in hospital situations very stressful. Perhaps talking to a councellor would help you overcome any long-term effects this operation has had on you emotionally? Best of luck

Caryatnid

OP - I've personally neither experience nor fear of operations.....but have you thought about complaining to the hospital? Your case seems horrific and rare. I think it would be important to highlight this to the hospital board.

dudara

Bleeding like that is not entirely uncommon with adult tonsillectomies, and it's one of the risks associated with having an operation like that in adulthood.

You were unfortunate about the mix-ups that happened, but that should not cause you to fear operations, I hope.

Remember why you agreed to have the operation in the first place. It was to improve your quality of life and improve your health.

LegacyUser

Until I met my wife who works in administration in a dublin hopsital, I would have been of the same view as you that "doctors know what they're doing and are only going to help". My wife has relayed to me so many stories of cockups and fcukups that have occurred in the hospital, from peoples blood reports getting mixed up and mistakenly told they have cancer (big legal proceedings after that one as you can imagine) to people having surgical implements left in them after an op that it would make you want to stay away from a hopsital unless you were actually close to death and needed treatment.

People do have the view that the doctor knows best and sure he'll tell me everything I need to know regarding my illness/injury/procedure, this is so wrong. In fact I would recommended everyone to question a doctor thoroughly before leaving his surgery/ allowing him to move onto the next bed.

Doctors are only human and humans make mistakes however there is a large perception that doctors, nurses and hospital staff are meticulous with every aspect of their job when in fact they are just as fallible as you or me.

To answer your question, "do the thoughts of an operation scare you?", yes there is always risk attached to a medical procedure so it is normal to feel scared or nervous. I had my first operation earlier this year, I'm 27, and tbh I was pretty ok about right up until the point I was in the pre-op room and then they put the trolley down flat to move me to theatre so all I could see were the ceiling tiles and lights moving, then I started to panic a bit. When they hooked me up to aneastitic machine which takes your heartrate it instantly sounded alarms and the screen said "excessive heartrate!" and the number below said 155 (which I found out afterwards is heart attack range). They asked me had I been given a sedative and I said 'no', they went 'hmmm, right' and gave me a muscle relaxant which brought my bpm down and then administered the anaesthetic and it was lights out for me.

To be honest, when I woke up from the op, it felt like I had had a blackout. It wasn't like after a sleep when you wake up feeling like you've actually had a sleep.

Donegal Lass

yes im scared of op's ever since my gran told us the story about how she wasn't really out cold when they were operating on her and she had to endure a 9 hour op without anyone knowing she was actually awake!!

gyppo

@ OP,

I had a tonsillectomy when I was 32, and I still get the shudders thinking about it. I have every sympathy for you, and you sound like you went through a very rough time.

However, Bleeding is a very real danger in adult tonsillectomies. The adult blood supply to the tonsils is very large compared to childrens, and the risk if bleeding in adults is increased greatly.
It sounds like you were not made aware of the dangers before you had your operation - this lack of information must have made it very frightening for you.

As Dudara said "Remember why you agreed to have the operation in the first place. It was to improve your quality of life and improve your health"

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

eskimo wrote:

Do the thoughts of an operation make you nervous or scared?

no.

Black Swan

OP: Your situation seems quite unusual, indeed! If you were in the States, and the word got out, lawyers (solicitors) would be lined up to take your medical malpractice suit.

projectmayhem

i have quite a horrendous back issue, and my knee aint so pretty either. for years i've had issues (and by years, i mean all of them!) and have a medical record no one really should have.

after years of small incidents like the OP's, if i'm ever ill i just ride it out. it tends to be easier then actually visiting the specialists. i've been fairly sick the last few weeks (not eating, throwing up stuff i didn't realise existed in me, etc.) but my distrust for doctors has kept me away from getting help.

what's funny is the fact that the only way to trust doctors/specialists again is to actually go pay them a visit!

LegacyUser

Sorry to here you where so bad after your tonsillectomy. My Otherhalf is getting a tonsillectomy done on Friday and i hope his goes better then yours did as hes only after getting a new job. However he really needs the operation I dont like the thought of him going in for the operation just in case anything goes wrong but hopefully nothing will.

Scraggs

Eek! OP you've brought back some bad memories.. I think waking up choking on your own blood has to be the worst feeling ever:o

I'm going under the knife for a serious operation in a fortnights time and I have to say I'm terrifed ...especially with all the stories I've been hearing lately about negligence etc. I'm sure it'll be fine but I just cant shake that feeling...