Popped in to see a post op patient at the hospital today.
She had a long, major neurosurgical procedure the other day, during which I had to work hard to keep her blood pressure from getting too high. There are many reasons for this but one that is of particular concern to anaesthetists is the possibility of awareness, which I’m guessing everyone is familiar with the concept of? It’s the very rare situation when everyone in the operating room thinks you’re asleep, but in fact you’re awake and know what’s going on but you can’t move because the drugs have stopped your muscles from working. I would say “paralyzed” but that’s such an emotive term.
Anyway, I was pretty sure that hadn’t happened to my patient but when I walked into the ICU and she said “I remember!” I could feel the blood draining from my face. But I had it wrong, which I should have guessed from her relieved and even gleeful tone. She was happy because she hadn’t forgotten anything or anyone from before the surgery, which was probably a reasonable thing to be concerned about when you’re going to have someone rootling around in your brain for some hours.
Another happy customer. (Did I mention the recovery nurse said I’d given my two patients excellent anaesthetics yesterday? No? I either forgot or I was being humble. )