December 19, 2004

Awareness during surgery, once dismissed as imaginary, is real ““ and potentially devastating

“The first thing Sidney L. Williams says he heard when he awoke in the operating room during open heart surgery two years ago was the insistent whine of a bone saw cleaving his sternum.”

The uncommon, but scary, proposition of anesthesia awareness.



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  4. Does a checklist before surgery really save lives?
  5. Online cardiac surgery simulations for aspiring heart surgeons
  6. Situs inversus, and the difficulty of operating on patients with reversed anatomy
  7. Alternative medicine practitioners


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{ 3 comments }

1 WordsRock December 19, 2004 at 11:10 pm

I once dated a woman who insisted she had woken up during an apendectomy. Truly, I did not believe her. She was rattled greatly, however.

Scary thoughts.

2 Dot Bar December 19, 2004 at 11:55 pm

But to become aware doesn’t mean that you would feel the pain does it? Weird….

3 Allyson M Dyar December 21, 2004 at 5:05 pm

I was awake when I was intubated and let me tell you, it was scary!

I didn’t remember it until just before I had to undergo another operation using general anethesia. I told me doc what had happened and I asked him to make sure that I was asleep this time. I also asked for a sedative for the night before.

Even with all that, I was still shaking like a leaf as I was wheeled into the OR.

It’s a very scary experience. I’m just glad I was awake for intubation, not for the operation itself.

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