Minor knee surgery and oral surgery. Oral surgery was much worse.
In my case, the pain management for the knee surgery was much better. For oral surgery I got IV demerol and a prescription of acetaminophen, even though it does not work for me.
For knee surgery I got a topical pain killer like lidocaine, then a direct injection like novacaine, then an IV - not sure what that was. For post op I got a narcotic (demerol or hydrocodone?) for one day, then percodan for two weeks. I never felt more than the promised “discomfort”.
I’ve had more surgeries than I care to list, two live births and one mid-trimester miscarriage. (That last was horrible.)
Other than that, the pain from each one was well-managed, except for when I had my tonsils out as a teenager,. It was under local anesthesia which it didn’t work very well. The doctors denied that could have been the case, but a dentist decades later had trouble getting my jaw numb for a large procedure, and told me that the nerves in my jaw are deeper than normal, so I am inclined to believe I actually did have less than adequate numbing for the tonsillectomy.
After every surgery I have been quite debilitated for weeks afterward. Regardless of pain control, there is no getting away from the fact that the body has endured a major trauma.
One surgery that went very well was a non-emergency one that we could plan ahead for and we did an autologous blood transfusion. A few weeks before the surgery I donated blood that was reserved for me alone, and it was given to me at the time of the surgery. This helped a lot.
I have also noticed that over the years they have been getting much better general anesthesia; at least it seems that was to me. Early ones, I felt like I was desperately trying to crawl out of a pit. The most recent one, it was pretty much “now I’m asleep; now I’m awake.” Don’t know how they did that.
I’ve only had 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed under sedation. I remember them telling me I might start to feel funny, then the room wavered a bit and the next thing I remembered was the vague sensation of walking to the car. Then it was another memory blankout, then I remember asking my mom “Is it over?” She responded that it was, and by the time we pulled into the driveway 10 minutes later, I was completely alert and coherent and able to walk into the house independently. I never took the Percocet and instead managed the pain by stacking Advil and Extra Strength Tylenol for a few days. It caused one hell of a TMJ flare-up, but recovery wasn’t too bad.
My brother, on the other hand, was completely out of it for hours to the point that someone had to be in the room with him at all times because he was too woozy to stand up but wasn’t able to remember this, so he needed constant eyes on him so he didn’t fall over. He was also vomiting blood for awhile and got frustrated by a Simpsons episode because he couldn’t follow the plot. And he had a lot more pain and was stoned out on Percocet and Zofran for a few days. We both had the same surgeon, so the diametrically opposite experiences were interesting.
In my anecdotal experience kids seem to rebound easier.
My Daughter had an appendectomy at 6 and within 36 hours she didn’t even acknowledge it - I had to keep yelling at her to stop jumping on the bed so she wouldn’t tear her stiches and she didn’t understand why she couldn’t go to gymnastics and swimming classes.
My brother had his out at 22 and he was a sleeping and moaning puddle for at least 4 days before he started moving around on his own.
It depends on the type of surgery.
It depends on you
It depends if pain pills work well on you or not
Had a total knee April of 2012. The pain pills hardly work to relieve pain, and I could not tell any difference when I pushed the button. And they made me sick. When I was given a shot of morphine in recovery I threw up in about 90 seconds and did not fell the pain go down or the hi everyone else talks about. The only way I can describe it was it was llike being extreamly sea sick for 80 days.
Therphy for the knee gave me a Inguinal hernia, because I was scared of the pain meds they tried something different. Not as sick but I hurt for about a week.
I had a bad otitis media (middle ear infection) which led to a bad cranial abscess/meningitis. I had to have brain surgery, twice :eek:, to relieve the abscess and then, after I’d sufficiently recovered, a mastoidectomy to remove the bone under my ear where the infection had taken hold.
None of the times before of after those three operations were pleasant, except waking after the two surgeries on my frontal lobe and realising a) I was still alive and b) I probably wasn’t brain-damaged. After the first brain op I drank a cup of (awful) coffee, and had to get out of bed to throw up in the sink. The skin on my head split and I was throwing up with blood streaming down the right side of my face. I got back into bed and was cleaned and sedated.
A few hours later I woke up and started hurling abuse at my family and the nurses, and was sedated. I woke sometimes when I had a visitor, and was always glad to see them although very weak. I had been transferred to a private room, which was nice. For a while I had blood poisoning/a secondary infection and had extremely vivid, quite arty dreams, sometimes waking with hot sweats and in much pain. I think I woke up screaming a couple of times.
I was ‘out’ for about two weeks after the brain surgeries and lost a lot of weight but, as said above, would not recommend it for weight loss ;). After three weeks I went to see the ear surgeon who said either I could have ear surgery and possibly lose my hearing or not have it and risk another brain abscess :rolleyes:. That consultation was on my birthday but the doctor either didn’t notice or decided not to bring up the subject.
I decided the ear op would be more pragmatic and was transferred to a suitable ward. The surgery was also quite invasive and I had an open wound behind my ear, packed with surgical material that had to be changed each day, for around a week. Then I went to another ward for observation and was sent home a few days later. I had lost a lot of weight and muscle mass, and could barely climb the stairs, but was very thankful for the bag of drugs and painkillers and that I had survived.
Moral of the story: Get those ear infections checked! It was the first bad one I’d ever had and didn’t realise the outcome could be quite so traumatic.
Had some work done on the knee, and they let me stay in the Hospital until I was well enough to look after my self, which is to say, until I was well enough to walk around without falling over. Then I went home, and was well enough to walk around, but not to drive, ride M/c or get over the back fence when I left my key inside. Otherwise, nothing much.
Had the appendix out. Just weeks after a tennis star had the same, and he was back playing tennis is 3 days, so I thought it was going to be trivial. Nope, athletes are different from us. At first, justing hurting and sleeping and wanting to sleep on my side and they wouldn’t let me. Then, well enough to watch in horror as my drip ran out every 90 minutes, because I knew that the nurse would eventually come and restart it, which hurt every time. Then for several days not strong enough to actually get out of bed and move to the chair. Off work for 10 days.
Jaw surgery. Out the next day. Pain not bad enough be memorable, just enough to turn me into a complete b-- for the next week. Couldn’t talk or eat, and that plus the opiates kept me away from work for 2 weeks.
I knew a surgeon who didn’t put in feeding or urinary catheters because he thought he was so good that his patients would recover without needing that. And the thing was, he really was good: his patients really didn’t need urinary catheters, because he made so little disturbance. But not that good: his patients got feeding tubes post-surgery, which was much more traumatic that if it was done while they wre out the first time.
Physical recovery from my c-section wasn’t that bad. One the first day I was pretty pumped up with meds and had to stay in bed. By the second day I was mobile, and by the third day, I was pretty much off the meds and doing laps in the hallways. After a week I was functioning normally, and a few months out the only reminder is a scar and some mild tenderness. There were a few times in recovery where I moved the wrong way and it hurt pretty bad, but these were brief.
The actual process of being in the hospital, however, was hell. I had imagined my time in the hospital would be like a little mini-retreat, where I could get some much-needed rest and maybe catch up on some reading. Not so! The first night I had an IV, catheter, and inflatable boots (something about circulation.) All of these were at least mildly annoying, and between them it was almost impossible to sleep (not to mention I had a baby in the room I was supposed to somehow take care of.) With all the hookups, it was hard to get positioned in the uncomfortable bed, and going to the bathroom was an epic journey involving lugging an IV around. Not to mention I was bleeding everywhere and had to spend the first couple days on quickly-soaked pads I couldn’t change by myself- which was gross and embarrassing. Even after I was unwired, nurses come to do checks through the night and there are constant distractions, so it was hard to rest or even zone out. I was so grateful to finally get home.
As someone who’s spent a fair amount of time in hospitals the last few years, I’ve heard the old nurses’ saying, “Don’t go to the hospital to get your rest.” Vitals checks, blood draws, midnight meds, IV changes…there is no rest to be had there.
Yeah, IV changes can really hurt. The meds I was on were so strong the doctors had got through all the available veins on my arms and moved to my feet. Each time I had a new batch mainlined, every 6 hours or so, it hurt like crazy. I barely notice normal injections but that was some strong stuff.
Yeah. I was just in for a week for IV antibiotics and the stuff they were using was so hard on the veins that they moved the IV every couple of days. NOT FUN! Especially since I was also on Lovenox since I was confined to bed. We had a couple of very alarmed IV specialists who weren’t aware I was on Lovenox thinking they’d accidentally stuck an artery when the blood started flowing out of a failed site when they took the needle out.
My boyfriend is currently recovering from ankle surgery he had 3 months ago. It hurt enough to use hydrocodone for a few weeks, then he tapered off it. He is only taking ibuprofen as needed now–basically, whenever walking around more than just the house.
Heh. Apparently after a hysterectomy, the question is “have you passed gas yet?” I wondered why until I did. It felt like gravel. It wasn’t hideously painful, just uncomfortable and wierd.
You already know that it varies. One problem with the tonsils is that it’s going to hurt when you eat, and eating is one of the things that people rely on to comfort them. This will be a cause of disgruntlement. Another factor may be that because it’s a smaller surgery, the doctors are less likely to pull out the big gun painkillers. And there’s the irony of having to swallow (ouch, sore) whatever painkillers are prescribed.
I don’t consider myself to be a huge weenie when it comes to pain tolerance, but I had my tonsils out at 26 and it was REALLY, REALLY UNPLEASANT. They say you should take ~2 weeks off work and it was exactly 2 weeks before I felt somewhat normal-- and even then, my first meal of “solid” food was truly excruciating.
The first few days, you take a vicodin every couple hours just to be able to function. I slept on and off because they told me to sleep sitting up and it wasn’t possible for me to get more than an hour or two of sleep in that position.
BUT… having my tonsils out was still totally worthwhile!
Like others have said, it depends on the procedure!!
I’ve had nasal surgery (septoplasty / turbinectomy), c-section, and gallbladder surgery. With the nasal surgery, it was a fair bit of pain the first day, gradually increasing, and me feeling wiped out for a few days.
With the c-section (urgent but not emergent, baby had to come out TODAY not THIS SECOND, which meant doc could take her time and not do excess damage), I was in a fair bit of pain for a few days but was up on my feet the minute they let me do so. I was actually feeling pretty good by the time I left the hospital at 4 days post-delivery (sans baby, who was still in the NICU), as I’d been travelling up/down the halls to the elevator; NICU was on a different floor. I’m quite sure that helped the recovery. So by my 2-week checkup I was feeling pretty good, though I learned quickly that I could go from feeling good to “sit down. Now. No negotating, ya dumb broad” in about 2 seconds flat, and I was wise enough to heed that.
Gallbladder: Again, first 24 hours were the worst. Not as bad abdominally as the c-section, but the gas pains in the arms were the worst (from the stuff they use to inflate the abdomen). Again, much better after I was home but more painful than the c-section - no epidural so no long-acting morphine, so I was on oral narcotics for longer. And I’m pretty sure I felt more wiped out, both from the trauma of the surgery and the residual narcotics.
And the innards were more tender for longer after than with the c-section, which was odd. Not real pain but I remember scaring the produce clerk at Giant once - shopping, and I absent-mindedly nudged the cart forward (something I didn’t realize I was in the habit of doing), and he saw my face go :eek::(.
After a colonoscopy, however (even ones in which they did a fair bit of carving), I was fine as soon as the sedation fully wore off.
I had neurosurgery, almost brain surgery as Giles puts it.
It sounds like we had the same procedure, MVD, microvascular decompression. Mine was for HFS, hemifacial spasm (and thankfully not for TN like Giles. Sorry, Giles, and I hope your TN was not a bad case. TN can be awful.).
The only post-surgery problem I dealt with was a side effect of the anesthesia, the worst case of constipation ever. If you’re ever having general anesthesia and before being released from the hospital you haven’t done a #2 for a day or two, make sure that you do! Before being released on day 3 (day 1 being surgery day) the nurses kept asking me if I’d gone. I told them no but I didn’t think it would be a problem because I kept feeling the urge to go. I was pretty sure it would happen soon. Boy was I wrong and by day 5 I was in painful misery.
Getting tonsils out actually hurts ten times more than they say because you can’t believe it actually hurts that badly. It does.
What sucks about surgery is the time immediately after. All you want to do is sleep, but they want you out of there NOW, so they keep waking you up and making you get dressed and leave.
