i am having surgery on the 22 and the 29th. i have a question? it is  whether or not you are awake or they put you to sleep i haven't found any information?

Hi Butch, when I have surgery they put me to sleep, they wake me up when it done, where do you have surgery? Please keep us post.

Take care, you are in my prayers.
Kieu

i am having surgery at stanford hospital by dr, steinberg.
took me alot of hard work to get approved to go.
thanks so much for your reply

Oh goodness!  We must do a better job of making sure people understand that a general anesthesia is used for MM surgery!  Butch, you'll definitely be asleep, and awakened at the end, as Kieu said.

Take care,
Jill

pthank you so much for repling ot my ? i really don't like the thought of that but, it is what is i guess. i wasn't really sure because i really haven't be able ask alot of questions. thankyou so much
butch

yeah, sleeping, you will be sleeping, I wondered the same thing, and my friends and family, thought i would be awake, but i told them i didn't think so , you are only awake when they remove a tumor, i believe, but, sleeping is good, lol, I dont remember much, just I was laughing when I went in :). you will be in my prayers, and I will say a extra prayer for you those both days, take care,

Hi Butch,

If it helps my brother was at Stanford in 2005 and had both sides bypassed by Dr. Steinberg. The process we went through in a nutshell is my brother had required pre tests, we met with all the doctors including the ansethsiology team and also met the testing techs who explained what the test was and what they would be doing and why.

Our particular process at the time was my brother had a couple of tests then he and I met with Dr. Steinberg and then he had a couple of additional required pre tests and then he and I met with the anesthesiology team.

Stanford has the process down to a science although there may be some variation to which tests and when for each patient but for the most part, you go through tests, meet with Dr. Steinberg and any other surgical team doctors and meet with the anethesiology team.

If you have any questions for either the surgical or anesthisia team, write them down and have them ready when you arrive so you can get your questions answered.

The anesthsiology team was very thorough  in understanding the patients past and current medical history and physicial/mental state and very good about answering questions and explaining what they do and when and why.

I hope this helps and I will be thinking about you on the 22nd and 29th.

Please ask any questions as we are here to support you.

Hugs,

Lore

Hi Butch.  My daughter, Emily, just had two surgeries done on June 3 and 10th by Dr. Steinberg.  Everything went fine just like everyone says.  My daughter went swimming today for the first time since the surgery and she's completely fine!  She takes her aspirin a day!!  I wish you well and I know you are in good hands!!!

Audrey

Hi Audrey,

Good to hear from you, and great news to hear that Emily is doing so well!  It must have been hard to wait to swim with this hot summer weather, but I'm glad to hear she's back in the water.  Please tell her "hi" for me!

[smiley=heart.gif] Jill  

Hi Jill I will.  Has Tara done her Alcatraz swim yet????  I keep thinking about that.  Emily is doing just fine.  One more week until she can do the trampoline!!  We just checked.

I would like to say on here that so many people didn't experience a lot of pain with the surgeries.  Emily did experience pain in the first couple of days after.  They gave her IV pain medication.  She was not screaming with pain but her head did hurt.  After that couple of days though she didn't have a lot of pain but she would take Tylenol a couple of times a day.  Then when we went from the cool inside to the hot oustide that caused her to have a headache as well.  That went away pretty quickly too.  She hasn't had any Tylenol in a couple of weeks now.  I keep asking her if she needs it and we always keep it with us just in case.  I am glad that we didn't wait for her surgeries and that she will be okay!!!

Great news all around, Audrey!  I wish I could say that surgeries are completely pain-free, but I can't.  Incisional pain, sometimes headaches, are all pretty normal.  It's good that the pain meds helped Emily through it all, and wonderful that she's doing well without them now!

Tara's Alcatraz swim is 8/23, so we have a few more weeks to go.  She's actively training in the SF Bay, so I feel a bit more comfortable each time she's up there.  These kids - what will they come up with next?  I'm proud of her for wanting to do it, but may just be a nervous wreck that day.  Thanks for asking, and I'll keep you posted!

[smiley=hug.gif] Jill