2 weeks ago, I went for a day surgery under local anaesthesia to close up my trachestomy hole, which is also known as a fistula. Although the hole is only less than 1cm in diameter, surgeon had to cut open a larger hole at my thorat in order to stich up the gap. Normally this done under general anaesthesia due to possible pain and trauma patients have to go through.
However due to my weak heart, GA is not a possibility, so I went for LA. Doctors warned me that if I can stand the pain halfway through the operation, I need to signal them to stop and they will make me go under GA. Well, there is no way I want to be under GA, as a breathing tube will be inserted to help me breathe and I dont want to go through that again.
But the LA experience is not as bad as I thought. Despite feeling hallucinated (because I was given sedation), there was not much pain during the surgery. The feeling is like being fed with illusion pills, and you see people sweeping by in front of your eyes, you hear muffled sounds, but you dont know what is happening to you.
A day after the surgery, it was great pain and misery for me as LA ran out of effect. I cant speak, eat or even slightly open my mouth. But after enduring all that, Im so glad that the hole now is healing properly and I can also speak and breathe better now.
Yesterday I saw my heart doctor again. I was told I had an artery which was fused with a nearby vein and some blood is seeping from artery to vein as a result. That condition is also called a fistula. It was a result of the vascular catheter insertion at my neck during my stay in ICU early this year. Well, the heart doctor didnt know what to do, but referred me to a vascular surgeon on 23rd Dec. He will then decide whether I need to go for yet another surgery to separate the artery and the vein.
I was very depressed after hearing that. The miserable feeling of getting hospitalised and going under the knife came back to haunt me, once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment