Oh no I am scared

[Kara23]

My surgery has not been scheduled yet but they say it will be in February. They sent the interstim therapy handbook and it freaked me out. This book has unencouraging results!!!! Not to mention the whole surgery deal. Should I be scared or is the actual surgery better than what they describe?

I am scared of throwing up after surgery, should I be asking for specific type of anesthetic or anti nausea pill before they do it?

Also I am a NO CATH IC patient...how do I tell them that I can't have one!!!!!!!!!!!Or will the pain meds they put me on help this????

What pain meds does not cause nausea??? I took of a 500mg vicadin and I was sooooooooo dizzy...How am I supposed to get pain relief when I am throwing up from the pain medication on only such a small does as 1/4 of a 500mg pill????


I am scared of the cath b/c it is HELL for me and I'd rather be dead~!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm scared of throwing up!
And I can't figure out what pain med will make me not thow up???? I even ate a big meal with it just so I would not feel that way?


I'm sorry I am just so nervous about these things and not to mention all of that scary stuff in the booklet

Kara

[DanaG]

Kara-

I had the same exact reaction when I received the booklet. I had a hysterical fit. Everyone here made me feel SO much better when they told me that the booklet is there to tell you what COULD happen. It does not mean that everything they say will happen to you, but they MUST let you know what's possible. I had my surgery 2 weeks ago and it was not bad at all. First off, yes, you can tell the anesthesiologist that you have a difficult time with the anesthesia and you would like some anti-nausea medication. This is something they put into your IV and you won't even know you're getting it. In my opinion, I don't quite understand why they don't give this to everyone automatically. I had anesthesia once before and got sick. This time, with the anti-nausea med, I was not nauseated for one second. I was wheeled into my room at 11:45AM and was eating lunch by noon. I didn't even have to stay overnight and at 3PM the doctor told me I could go home. They gave me Wygesic pain pills, which I never took.
Why is it that you can't have a catheter? I'm sure your doctor is aware if you can't one and therefore wouldn't give you one. Is it that you CAN'T have one or you don't want one? If anything, they can give you one during the surgery and take it out right when you wake up. Thing is, after the surgery, you're not going to want to get out of bed to urinate...especially if you stay overnight (which most people do). Have you talked to your doctor about not using a catheter?
Anyway, as far as surgeries go, I am here to tell you that it is not bad. My surgery was on Decemeber 22 and I am going back to work this Monday. I could have gone back last week if I really needed to. I was out for dinner and walking around December 23. I have not set off any theft detectors or had any problem mentioned in the pamphlet. Please do not let the book scare you.
Keep us posted when you talk to your doctor about the catheter and write back if you have any more questions.

Dana

[DebbieB]

Hi Kara:
First of all the hand booklet lets you know what COULD HAPPEN, and it sure did scare the heck out of me also..
I had my surgery on April 20,1999 and I have not had any of the things happen to me in it ok, and many other girls on here will tell you too!!!
As for the magnet bars in the stores never had a problem, some girls had problem at the airport , but you are given a card from Medtronics and you show them the card..
I really think they have to put these things in the booklet of what could happen ,so the medtronic company does not get in trouble that is all..
So don't worry and I know it is easy for me to tell you this but really the surgery is a piece a cake as I have told so many people..
I think the InterStim trial was way more painful then the InterStim Implant..
As for the anesthetic, It was explain to me from my Urologist that there is three different kinds of medication in the anesthetic..
As you are in surgery for a long period of time, as Dana told you to ask for anti-nausea med. to help you with the nausea, you should tell the doctor before you go for your surgery ok..
As for the catheter, I had one but I was different then you, because I self-cath for two years and half before I had the surgery as I could not pee on my own.
As Dana said you should talk to your doctor about the catheter and let him know how you feel about it, as you are not able to get up after surgery to go pee, that is why you have one, but I do know some girls that posted on here that did not have catheter too..
So I hope they will posted to you ok..
It is only natural that you are worry , like the rest of us when you have any kind of surgery , your minds wonder on and all us Kara ,were nervous before we went for the surgery ok..
Also you are lucky to be able to read the booklet now, I was not given the booklet until the day after my Implant and tell me I was so scared and call the nurse to have my doctor come and see me right away to talk to me about this whole procedure and thought to myself how could I do this to myself...
So please understand that is ok to have these thoughts Kara..
We all here for you if you need us and ask anymore question, don't be scare we all here for you ok..
Thanks Dana , you are one of the ones that handle this surgery better then I and other to get back to work in two weeks it really something..
As I always say to everyone on this borad,we all are so different in the way we heal and handle the surgery too..
I am here for you anytime Kara!!!!

Hugs Debbie

Hugs Debbie

[Kara23]

Thanks for the assurance both of you!! I feel a little better already. Dana, I can't cath at all even with a pediatric one. It feels as if someone is shoving a double edged sword up my urethra. I'd just rather be dead than have one back in me!!!! Every size has been tried with every numbing med out there and no go every time. One doc told me that he had to cath me to get a urine sample and I told him he was nuts but he did it anyway I screamed through the whole 2 minute thing! And then he made me come back for an in office cysto and assured me that it would not hurt. They had me upside down in a chair and as soon as he attemped to put it in I screamed and he told me to calm down that it should not be hurting like it did. My mom told him to stop immediately and we walked right out of his office and never went back!!!!!!!! He also told me that he would stop if it hurt which he only proceeded to shove it in further telling me that he was almost in. I'd love to this day....SHOVE a JACKNIFE UP HIS PENIS and then ask him to calm down!!

So I can't do them, will not do them and will SCREAM if I wake up with one. I'd rather wear a diaper and pee myself. Even that humiliation would not be physically painful....

I'm sorry I went off but the cath subject for me is the worst thing...But thank you for ansewring my post you have helped me to feel a bit more at ease.

I'll for sure let you both know how I do. And I'll talk with my doc about these issues. I'm actually going to talk to my medtronic rep Fred as he seems to be more with it than the docs!! He could do these surgeries with his eyes closed.


Kara

[Maureen]

Kara,
OF course you are scared. This should not be taken lightly.
YOu need to talk to the doctor about the catheter. You will be under when they put it in.
We are all different with recovery. Dana did wonderfully. Maybe it was because her doctor only does one incision. I felt like I could have gone home that day but the policy was to keep people overnight. I did climb over the bed rails because no one was available to help me out of bed. (not recommended and I am sure not there policy)
I wasn't ready to go back to work for six weeks but that was also to protect me from aggressive patients and by back was sore to push largier patients in wheelchairs etc.
I do set off theft detectors in stores and it is not the nicest feeling. It is NOT VERY MANY THOUGH. I think it is just as shocking to the other shoppers around me when I been known to swear as it happened. The shock does not last long. I think I need to stay away from stores to protect my chargex for awhile so I wish more of them set me off (LOL).
The book is very scary and since I have the same doctor as Debbie I also did not get until after. But darn it if I had only known, that I had just given up my life long dream of becoming a welder (only kidding).
The one thing in the book that scared me was no MRI's. My doctor reassured me though that it was possible- as one of his patients did have to have one. The problem is that the unit heats up during the MRI. The solution was to do the test in time intervals of about 10 minutes or until the patient could feel the unit heating up. Then they would stop and let the interstim cool and then start up again from where they left off.
Good luck, the mind game with myself before the surgery was worse than the actual surgery. I had to go through it twice because my surgery was cancelled the week
before and rebooked two months later.
Maureen