Did you remember waking up?Breathing after surgery questions

 Someone in the chatroom mentioned that a lot of docs give an amnesia medication so you won't remember waking up from surgery?

A little background. I've had 3 experiences with anesthesia. One with my wisdom teeth- no probs. I woke up like waking up from sleeping. Two while greater than 5 months pregnant. Appendix and Gallbladder. BOTH those times were awful. I woke up gasping for breath like a stranded guppy. The nurses kept screaming at me to stop panicking. In my mind I was totally relaxed. I just couldn't breathe! This experience isn't one I'm enthusiastic about going through again, for obvious reasons. 

I've talked with a few people about this and one of the theories is that the paralytic doesn't wear off as fast as it should (no paralytic with your wisdom teeth) and the other, which I'm hoping is the case, is that the added pressure of my very gravid uterus pushing against my diaphragm, was what caused me some difficulty post surgery. 

Did anybody here have that kind of experience after surgery? BTW my lung capacity is fine. I DO have what I would call exercise induced asthma. I get all phlegmy and gaspy... but really I'm at a loss. Obviously I'll talk to the anesthesiologist, but I'd love to know what your experiences were in recovery. 
Thanks,
Laura

Mine was werid... When I had the VSG done, I woke up with the breathing tube down my throat, and I kept trying to swallow to get it out of my throat.  They took it out and stuffed a mask on my face that made it too difficult to breath so I kept shaking my face to get it off.  They got the message and took the mask off me and let me breathe.  It stunk.  When I have the second half of my DS done, I will be having a lovely chit chat with the anesthesia team.

 I woke up in the OR.  I just remember being aware of pain, but nothing else.  I vividly remember my recovery experience.  I remember getting the pain meds and that wonderful feeling of the pain abating.  I felt nauseous.  But, no problems breathing right after waking up.  I am an asthmatic, and I requested two albuterol breathing treatments  the second night.  All the crud in my lungs made it hard to breathe.  Coughing it up is painful, I had to hold onto my belly.  

I've had my widsom teeth out, VBG, gallbladder removed, endoscopy and laparoscopy.  On each occassion I come out of anesthesia as if I'm awakening from a sleep, and I hear the nurses calling my name, telling me I'm all done and everything went great.  I remember being wheeled to recovery, my mouth is always as dry as the desert and then I'm usually hit with some of the worse pain I've felt in life.  Luckily this is alleviated fairly quickly once they start pumping me with IV drugs, lol.

I wasn't as afraid of dying from surgery as I was of being awake during it.  My first post surgery memory was hearing a nurse ask if I was nauseous.  I said I was a little bit.  I felt like I was sleeping in a dark room and couldn't open my eyes.  I couldn't feel anything.  It was almost like being drunk.  She told me I was doing so good.  I asked her if I was skinny yet.  We both laughed.  It was so comforting to hear that I was ok that I just fell back asleep. 

I don't remember coming around but then next thing I knew (3 hours later) that I was being wheeled up to my room.  I was fully awake and felt no pain. 

I hope you can have peace before, during and after your surgery.  Meditation tapes might help for relaxing because you are probably going to have some anxiety around it.  I wish you the best Anethesiologist money can buy!

Cheers,
Cathy

I had a not so great experience with my DS.  Apparently, I came out of surgery just fine.  I don't remember waking up or the recovery room at all.  I was doing fine when they took me to my room. I vaguely remember them transfering me to my bed.  DH says I was *****ing about the pulse ox thing on my finger, and since I was doing so well, they agreed to take it off of my finger so I'd stfu.  I apparently fell asleep and my head fell over, cutting off my oxygen supply.  At that time, I had a nasal canula.  DH was sitting across the room from me, and says I made a snorting sound.  It was loud enough that it made him look up at me from his video game.  My face was purple, and my arms and hands were ash grey.  He tried to straighten my head up and shake me around, but I didn't respond.  He pressed the call button, and a nurse stuck her head in the door. It was shiftchange, so there was double the normal staff there.  The nurse took one look at me, yelled to the others that she needed help, and all hell broke loose!  DH tells me there were six nurses, a respiratory therapist and an ER doctor in my room.  After they sat me up, flipped me on my side, and pumped a bunch of air into me, I finally came to.  I, of course, remember nothing...thank God!  One of the nurses wanted to give me Narcan, but the others demanded they wait for the ER doc to get in there.  I'm so thankful that she listened to them!  I would have been in tremendous pain, had they given me that Narcan!  After they got me stablized, I did fine, but they weren't allowed to take the pulse ox off of me.

Sorry if my story scared you, but remember that everyone reacts different to anesthesia, each time they have it...I have, anyway.  This was the first not so good experience I've had. 

I really don't remember anything about waking up in recovery.  My first memory is getting wheeled to my room and being told that I had to walk a lap around the floor before I was allowed to actually get into bed.  I remember thinking that the nurses were crazy and that it felt like my belly was going to fall out.... it was just the oddest sensation.  But the was no pain really.  

I've had an abdominal surgery before this one and I remember waking up in recovery from that one but again, no gasping for breath or anything.  

I have an aunt who has really bad reactions to anethesia and she makes it a point to speak to her anethesiologist ahead of time and they are able to add something which makes the experience much better.  

Just warn any doctors that you DON'T want Reglan in any case.  

 I woke up in my hospital bed.  My first words.....I guess I didn't die.

I didn't feel bad and I was up and walking within an hour of getting to my room.

I remember nothing about the recovery room or the conversations I had with my kids after I got back to my room, they say I was pretty funny.   I actually don't remember much of the whole 1st day after surgery, I was very well medicated.

Nancy

The only thing I remember from the recovery room was telling them their drugs sucked (to which they gave me so that did not suck lol) and they kept doing Chest Xrays but I don't know WHY and nobody told my family they even did them so they were no help. My next memory is getting to my room and I told my family to hand me the computer. I got on here, posted and then went straight to sleep lol They forgot to turn my pain pump DOWN so it was on high all 5 days I was there. I do not remember anything of my hospital stay