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Precautions For General Anesthesia
One of our members, @grace-mcmillan recently posted, “I am 84, on oxygen 24/7 for 6 years. I am very concerned about general anesthetic. Has anyone had surgery requiring you to be out? I will appreciate any information you can share with me. Thank you.”
I recently had a surgery on my ovaries in October and needed full anesthesia and had to be intubated during it. I made sure that the anesthesia team talked with my pulmonary doctors in detail and we came up with a good plan to monitor my oxygen levels and breathing both during the surgery and post op.
Their main concern was the extubation process and how I would react to the medications because anesthesia and sedatives will slow the breathing down. For me, the best approach to this was to put me on a bipap mask and a high flow oxygen while in the ICU recovering until I felt strong enough to take deeper breaths on my own. This really helped give my lungs a break and helped transition me out of the surgery.
What has your experience been like with general anesthesia? What information should patients gather and know before being given this? What has helped you post anesthesia and helped you with recovering your breathing?
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2 Replies
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I have had to be go under anesthesia twice since my diagnosis in 2012. My PH doctors conferred with the anesthesiologists both times. My PH doctors have made it quite clear that it is important that the anesthesiologist know you have this disease or any diseases for that matter. But with PH I was told if you want to make sure you wake up, there are things a anesthesiologist must be aware of with PH.
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Hi Cindy,
Absolutely! I’m glad that your team comes up with a care plan for the anesthesiologists beforehand. Even if I already know what the plan is because of the multiple surgeries I’ve had after being diagnosed with my breathing condition, I still find it comforting to treat every surgery individuallly and to have my team map out a care plan (especially if surgery will be done at a different hospital) . Continuity of care is so important.
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