iSpark said...
The 7 hours was OR and recovery. I was in recovery about an hour.
I doubt I was head down for 6 though.
Well even 4 or 5 could cause problems. I had 4 hours with no apparent problems, my buddy had an injured shoulder from the shoulder braces that keep you from sliding off the table. It is the same result but from reverse cause for sitting positions in surgery as is common for shoulder, neck or brain surgery. People go blind or have strokes when put into the sitting position if the anesthesia drops the BP, then under anesthesia the body can not compensate in the normal fashion so the BP in the head/neck area is lower than the already lowered BP due to anesthesia. Just to make for an extra challenge, the ortho surgeon is often raising hell with anesthesia for a lower BP, trying to cut down on his blood loss. But whatever the BP is measuring in the arm, it is lower up in the head, brain and eyes with sitting(Beach chair) position. So patients have- rarely - awakened with blindness or strokes even after surgeries of only 1-2 hours.
Always pray for- or at least try to arrange to have- a very skilled experienced anesthesia provider(whether CRNA, MD or team of both), because that is who is most likely going to keep the surgery, surgeon or anesthesia drugs or airway equipment from injuring or killing you. The surgeon is busy with the small area of the surgery and completely immersed in that. Your life is in the hands of anesthesia. While the surgeon is busy cutting and making demands about
the blood pressure or the position of the patient, but the anesthesia person is controlling your level of unconsciousness, your BP, your airway and the amount of life sustaining oxygen that gets to your brain, heart and eyes. And he may be your only advocate for when the surgeon needs something that is good for the surgery and surgeon but not best for you.
Funny thing is: look at the hours we often spend trying to find the best surgeon known to man. But how many of us ever give a second thought about
who is providing the anesthesia. Unless you know who to ask- like an OR nurse, they always know exactly who they want to do their anesthesia by golly! - most of us just take whoever is on duty. In fact, it would be very difficult to do otherwise.
Bill in MS 36 years in surgery as a CRNA, personally administered a minimum of 5000++ epidurals and/or spinals plus a minimum of 25000++ general anesthetics. Personally placed 20,000+ Endotracheal airway tubes/intubations. (stats supplied only for purpose of showing my right to speak on the subject)
Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 2/22/2015 9:48:08 PM (GMT-7)