How do you get past the anxiety of surgery

[bob1225]

I'm going in for a resection of the transverse colon on 6-26, and I find myself thinking about it all the time. I have never been in a hospital and I;m 52. Its like I'm planning for an accident only I'm going to walk into the hospital feeling perfectly OK and waking up all messed up. I'm healthy guy who went in for my first colonoscopy just before memorial day and they found a 3mm pancake growth attached to the colon , pathology came back as high degree plasia which is precancerous but there still could be cancerous cells there. I got to tell you I never new any of this stuff a month ago which almost seems like another lifetime, I mean I don't remember that guys life right now. I'm glad I found this sight because its hard to relate this to other people including my wife. How do you guys deal with anxiety, I'm at a point were I'm not sleeping all night and I use to sleep like a rock?

[April2]

Well, I don't know if this is helpful to you or not or what your beliefs are but when I had to have a mass removed and a colon resection I prayed a lot and asked others to pray for me. That gave me such a sense of calm and peace. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my faith. Anyway, that's what worked for me.

[Sue357]

Hi.  I had a colon resection, this past January.  I am like you.  Just got into the over 50 club  lol...Well, actually, I turned 51 right before the surgery.  Anyway, all of the posts are offering great advice and I would agree with all of them.  I am a clinical depressive, with anxiety.  Have been since age 9, before they knew about chemical imbalances.  I take meds for both.  They will give you a sedative before hand and believe me, once they get you in the operating room.. it is lala time.  I don't remember anything after they put the mask over my face.  I will not lie. The recovery can be hard as the colon does not like to be messed with.  In my case, they took 7 inches due to multiple episodes of diverticulitis, which would not respond to antibiotics.  I am a big baby and found out that I have a low pain tolerance and a high med tolerance so they had to keep me on Dilaudid for the 5 days I was there.  And yes, they will send you home with pain meds.  Now, almost 5 months later, I am adjusting.  I remember my surgeon saying that it would take " 3-6 months for you to forget you had the surgery".  If it were me, I would ask your doc to prescribe some type of anti anxiety med, like Klonopin ( which I take ) to help you sleep and deal with the anxiety.  

[ggreg]

Dear Bob,
When I got up in my 50s, I could not believe how my body fell apart.  I was shocked.  I had no idea about getting older and operations and all that jazz.  But pretty soon, you begin to accept that in the scheme of things, an operation is not too high on the scale of disasters, and that as you get older, health issues will come up from time to time.  

I really think you should tell your doc you're all freaked out, and CalGal's suggestion about getting pain meds ahead of time is a good idea, and heck I'd even ask for some tranquilizers.  Actually, as you know, when a "big event" is about to take place at any point in your life so far, a person gets nervous.  It's fear of the unknown, is all.  There's also the element of losing control and the mini cancer scare.

I read once that the reason docs wear white coats is so people will see them as special authority figures, so patients will more readily release control over to them.  Of course this isn't true, but it kinda makes sense to the psyche to recognize that a process of "letting go" takes place every time we go to a doctor.

By the way, stuff will go so quickly when you get admitted to the hospital, that you won't have much time to fidget over your situation.  Once you check in, like a hotel, and get to your room, you get in a gown, probably the most staggering part of the whole thing.  Kind of diminishes a person, you know.  But then, a nice nurse comes in, she starts hooking you up to IVs and almost always gives medication to calm you down.  From then on, it's easy.  

You get to lay down, cover up, folks are just hovering around you like you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, and next thing you know, hey, you're feeling pretty dang good from the medicine.  Being rolled around is great fun.  Then it's over.  Your ride down the hall is the last thing you'll remember.  But you will have quite the headache and your guts will hurt something fierce.  Once again, the miracle of drugs, they are supposed to respond to any needs you have about pain.  You'll get you a shot, you'll sleep, watch TV, and soon they'll be kicking you out with a big bottle of very pleasant pills, and home you go.

Just think about how great it will be when you get home.  Kind of like taking a trip, you know, where you pack your bags, leave the house, get all worn out from your "vacation," and when you open your front door again, GOSH, no bed ever felt so great to sleep in.  That's exactly how it will be.  PLUS you will be a well man now, technology cheated death for you, and you've now joined the ranks of the "over-50" crowd.  Welcome.  We all like it over here, a whole lot better than over there, because this is where you realize, hey, I don't HAVE to try so hard no more, and it's okay to fall off the floor once in a while.
GG

[Morecambe]

Hi - I underwent a total colectomy four years ago for torrential diverticular bleeding.  I had never been in hospital before and was anxious about what would happen and how I would tolerate this alien experience.  Also, when I went into hospital there was no apparent physical gain in the sense that at that moment, I was free of pain and, after the operation, there would be no "relief from pain or discomfort" - but just the "beaten up feeling" from the operation. The "gain" was via the knowledge that the life threatening risk of bleeding had been removed.  In your case, you have an overhanging worry about the possibility of cancer in the future and after the operation you will be able to say "I've forestalled that risk".  Perhaps not a bad outcome for a few weeks of surgical discomfort.....?

I think Calgals' suggestions are spot on - and I suggest that you re-read them several times since their significance and relevance may grow on you with further reading.

Now, if you wish, I can describe my own experiences of my operation.  I did this previously in response to another patient "renae241".

Type in renae241 in the search box at the top right hand of this page and click on.
Then scroll down several postings until you read "colectomy - I have been advised......."
You should see a poasint dated 20 May by renae241 to which I responded.

Please come back with any further questions.  Good luck
Morecambe

[CalGal]

I'm not sure there's any easy way to do it. I can only speak for myself, but before I had surgery I was a wreck inside - outside I actually maintained a 'cool' demeanor (others tell me). But what I tried to do was keep SO busy that I didn't have time to think. And I asked my doc for sleeping pills to knock myself out just so that I COULD get some sleep.

Yeah, I knew when I came out that I would be 'messed up' and hate the way I looked and I hated the idea of the scar. But there was no way around it - and I wanted to doc to have a very clear field in which to work, so I choose a slightly non-traditional route.

After talking with my doc, we elected to start some meds for pain right before surgery based on the studies that show the earlier the pain meds are started the better they seem to work. And I made sure for at least the first day and a half I took the darned pills which I really hated. But I also made sure to take the stool softeners, too, to make sure I could balance the effects of the constipating results of the meds. And when I went to the bathroom, I took a big pillow to put across my abdomen in case I needed to push.

I tried to pre-think everything I could beforehand to make sure I was ready, and to keep myself busy. Comfy pillows, foods that I'd want that would hopefully tempt my appetite, books to read (if I could even focus?), tapes for the TV, whatever. And I wrote a big sign and put it over the bed - I WILL get out of bed and walk every hour! (although I hated that sign the day I came home.

I won't kid you, it WILL be hard immediately after surgery. The meds will control the pain, and there's a lot of adjustment to make, but many of the meds can make you depressed - even more so that you normally would be just ffrom everything that's gone on. And that depression can last, so don't be surprised. You are not nuts,  you are not going out of your mind, and you are not forgetting things - so blame the meds if you don't feel like yourself for awhile.  

Overall, you're going to feel like you're the only one in the world that this has happened to, but you're not. Most people just don't talk about it. Good for you for asking.

Another thing I did? I spent about 10 minutes looking in the mirror at my body before I left for the hospital. I knew it wouldn't look the same a few hours later and I worried I'd hate the way I looked. I did, for a number of months because of the redness, puffiness and what felt like a 'violation.' But that passed and I don't even notice the small scar anymore (although I'll admit that right after surgery I felt like I had a sign on me that said 'look here for a HUGE scar.')

And there was a very good effect of the surgery on my psyche. It made me realize that every day is SO precious. We need to enjoy each and every minute, and we typically don't. So you might think about changing that before you head into surgery if you're not enjoying your life and the people and things around you.

Good luck, Bob. You'll do well. Go hug your wife. She's probably just as scared as you are and putting up a brave front. Everyone is impacted when surgery rears it's ugly head.