VATS pleurectomy: Day of the Surgery

Monday 11th May 2015
Surgery consisting of a pleurectomy and bullectomy to treat reoccurring spontaneous pneumothorax.

Nil by mouth by midnight

A horrible phrase and one I hope not to hear all too often again. This was the first hurdle to overcome, and as someone with IBS who needs to eat regularly to avoid stomach upset, a huge challenge...or so I thought it would be. I awoke on the morning of the surgery with no hunger pangs and this continued for most of the day. Whether my sub-conscience had mentally prepared my body for this I'm not sure, but I was hugely grateful nevertheless!

Drinking Water

I would also like to add that my anaesthetist was kind enough to point out that although 'nil by mouth' includes water, I was allowed to drink water up to 4 hours prior to surgery.  I urge anyone who is unfortunate enough to have an afternoon surgery to check if this is ok for you as being hydrated certainly helps evade the hunger and at least allows for better veins for that anaesthetic. Im an advocate of reading many sources, however here is at least one link with more info on this.

Going under 

If you have read my first post you will know that this was my first experience of general anaesthetic and was something that I was quite anxious about. 
The journey from the ward to the theatre department was fine, except for the fact that I was terrified! Having said bye to my boyfriend whilst trying to look brave and not cry, I was wheeled through the corridors and down the bed lift to the surgical floor. I remember seeing the sign above the double doors labelled 'theatre' and feeling a knot in my stomach as I was wheeled under it. 
I was taken to a corridor filled with surgical beds, which I was told were like plastic covered bean bags, and transferred onto one of them. Having being transferred onto the not so comfy theatre bed and wheeled into the anaesthetic room, it was time to face my fears. 
And that is where I broke down a little. Suddenly it was real and my entire body began to shake with nerves. They asked if I was cold but I said no, just scared. They tried to talk some small talk but I couldn't stop myself from bursting into tears. I was nervous and shaking and scared of the possibility of not waking up. I know its a small risk...but remember I had no idea what to expect and it scared me. 
I dried my eyes and calmed down a bit (the shaking still wouldn't go however) and spoke some more to the women in the room who were asking me the silly questions. It helped this time and we spoke about what I wouldnt do after surgery. My response? "eat!!" (haha! if only I knew then how nauseous I'd be!)

I was given some local anaesthetic to the hand which was OK,just a bit of a sting, but nothing too bad. Then came a bit of a wait whilst they fixed the monitor which had decided to stop working. (This isn't a sign right?).

Finally the general anaesthetic went in and I was told to relax. Well I found that hard, my body still shook and now I could feel as the substance worked its way up my arm and strangely into my chest. It felt heavy and unpleasant for around three seconds and the last thing I heard was "don't fight it". 

I hated it, it felt like my body had stopped working before my mind had and my plan to think happy thoughts was a little ruined. However...it did the job, and now I am here writing this.
With hindsight it all seems a little less scary, but in all honesty, if I had to go through it again, I imagine I would feel just as scared and helpless as I did then. I don't think you can really help it. But I am OK! Just in case it does help someone to hear that. 

Waking Up

Before you read this, please bear in mind that this experience will be different for everyone and many of you will have likely already experienced it. In all honestly I remember only snippets of waking and was never told quite how long it took. I do not remember feeling pain, but I remember declaring I was in pain and being given morphine. I vaguely remember being propped up in bed for an X-ray and then a horrid feeling that my chest was very tight and I was unable to breathe very well. Then came the oxygen. All in all I don't think it was a very pleasant experience...but thankfully I don't remember it all too well!

It would seem the oxygen and morphine combination did something, as the next thing I remember is being aware of being back on the ward and hearing the buzz of other people in the room. 
The most vivid memory I have of this day is wishing to say goodbye to the kind lady in the bed next to me, who had eased my mind about surgery that morning and made things a little less scary. Despite trying desperately however to open my eyes, I eventually gave up on all attempts to do so and believe I promptly fell back to sleep. If you are reading this, thank you :)
Oh, I think I asked for water too, I remember my boyfriend feeding me some through a straw. No food though...food was no longer on my mind.

What I have been told ( My boyfriend's perspective)

The waiting

Ok, so I have been informed since the surgery that what was described as an hour long procedure with 30 mins recovery, actually took a lot longer, more like 4 and a half hours in fact. Either the surgery took waaaay longer, or my recovery was very slow and no one mentioned I was awake, because my family had no news for hours and were growing increasingly concerned, as I am sure you can imagine. But there were no complications and I eventually arrived back on the ward, so if this happens to you also....it may not be as bad as you think. I would recommend having a longer conversation regarding waiting times (including recovery) with the surgeon beforehand,more so for the benefit of those who have the job of waiting. It upset me quite a lot to think how worried my own family were and I think this would have helped. 

Waking up

I wasn't very good at it. I was slow, and pretty much out of it the whole time with a resting pulse of 110 (not good). This resulted in me having a blood pressure gauge on my arm (which remained there for the next two nights also). Fortunately for me I don't remember much of waking up on the ward, my clearest memory after surgery is of the following morning. I have been told since thought by my boyfriend that it wasn't very nice to watch, so it might be worth discussing this with your loved ones before you have surgery. I never really thought about how they will have to cope when I was researching surgery, it was all about how I would recover and what pain I should expect. Of course this is normal, and to be honest everyone is likely different in how they react on waking up, but for my partner I think he expected me to me to be a lot more 'with it' after surgery than I was. By the sounds of it my stats weren't too great, hence the blood pressure monitor, and I barely spoke the whole time. This obviously wasn't very nice for him and was likely made worse by the fact that he was so anxious after waiting for me for so long. So spare a thought for the person who will be by your bedside when you wake up! Their support means everything but it probably wont be such a great experience for the either!

One positive to take from this is that because of all these drugs, I do know that this was the best nights sleep I had in hospital, I felt no pain (thanks to the handy morphine pump) and slept solidly through the night (the only time I would do so!)