My Anesthesia Nightmare: When Ventilation Assistance Went Wrong

Hello everyone! Recently, I had a surgery to remove an ovarian cyst, and I wanted to share my experience with general anesthesia during laparoscopy. You can read more about my surgery here.

My past experience with anesthesia

I had two anesthesia experiences as a kid. The first one was when I was 5 years old - I had a hernia removed. To be honest, my memories are pretty fuzzy, but I remember they put this big rubber mask on my nose, and it had a weird smell that I didn't like. I started crying and trying to get away, but they held me down. The gas eventually kicked in, and I fell asleep. I don't remember waking up, but my mom said I was pretty energetic and didn't have any complications. The second time was when I was 10 years old - they set my broken arm with a displaced fracture. That time, a really nice guy gave me an injection, and then he talked to me until I counted to 5, and then everything went blurry. When I woke up, I had a cast on, and I felt fine - no pain, no nausea.

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Anesthesia during laparoscopy

I'd never had a surgery or anesthesia as an adult, so I was really nervous and did a lot of research before my hospital stay. I already knew that during laparoscopy, they usually use general anesthesia with intubation. I learned that intubation is a medical procedure that supports or completely replaces a patient's breathing when they can't breathe on their own due to diseases or during surgeries under anesthesia. So, mentally preparing myself beforehand, considering my painless anesthesia experience as a kid, I was feeling pretty optimistic.

Intubation is a lifesaving procedure that provides oxygen to the lungs and removes carbon dioxide. It's crucial for patients who can't breathe on their own.

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The night before the operation, the anesthesiologist came to my room. He confirmed that I'd be having general anesthesia with ventilation. He explained that it's an artificially induced, reversible state of deep sleep and loss of consciousness, during which pain sensitivity, reflexes, and muscle relaxation are completely disabled.

General anesthesia is a safe and effective way to ensure patients don't feel any pain or discomfort during surgery.

The doctor asked about my experience with anesthesia in the past, took a look at my teeth, and told me not to eat after 6 pm or drink anything after 9 pm. In the morning, I was only allowed to brush my teeth, but not drink water or eat anything. Of course, I followed all the recommendations. That night before the operation, I couldn't sleep at all - I was terrified that I'd wake up during the procedure or that the anesthesia wouldn't work and I'd feel everything.

When they took me to the operating room, I was shaking with fear - my teeth were chattering. When they laid me down on the table and put in the catheter, the anesthesiologist came in. I asked him several times what to do if I woke up during the process, and everyone in the operating room was laughing. Essentially, the doctors assured me that it wouldn't happen.

When they started injecting the anesthesia into my vein, I felt like I'd been hit on the head - they told me that was normal and that I'd be asleep soon.

And, yeah, everything started to blur out.

Coming out of anesthesia and complications

My next memory is a terrifying one. I was lying there and couldn't take a breath. It was pitch black around me. It felt like I was underwater and trying to breathe with my mouth. I was trying to make the movements that would suggest breathing, but nothing was happening. I was terrified, I was trying to breathe with all my might, but I couldn't. I couldn't even open my eyes, I didn't see anyone around me, I felt like I was drowning in a void...

Probably my muscles, which had been shut down by the meds, hadn't fully recovered yet, and my consciousness had already come back. I didn't feel any pain, just panic and the feeling of suffocating. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Then a thought flashed through my head that I'd die like that. After that, I vaguely remember someone shouting 'spit out the water', and then I felt a mask on my face and the relief of the oxygen. When I came to and opened my eyes, I realized it was all over and I was relieved to be breathing again. My eyes were blurry, my stitches hurt, but that seemed like nothing to me.

Even in the hospital room, my throat started to hurt and feel scratchy (from the anesthesia tube). I wanted to cough, like there was some liquid in my lungs. When the surgeon came to visit, I asked her why I was suffocating, and she said it might have been an individual reaction to the ventilator. The rest of the day I was hacking up a lung - I felt nauseous, my head was spinning, my leg muscles were shaking, and I was chilly. That was all related to the anesthesia, as they explained to me. By the next day after the surgery, I wasn't nauseous anymore and my leg muscles weren't spasming. The coughing, however, persisted for another week. Then the coughing went away, but a week later I got sick and it lasted for about a month - it was a long and very intense cough. The doctor in the clinic told me that probably something got damaged during the ventilator.

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How I feel now

To be honest, this experience has left a deep mark on my psyche. I'm still having nightmares about not being able to breathe. Now I'm afraid even to think about being put under anesthesia with a ventilator again, but rationally I understand that in another case, the reaction might not be the same. Share your stories about general anesthesia in the comments, what complications did you have?

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Better safe than sorry