Hello,
I really have no idea about how long the anesthesia takes to totally rid your body, but I felt just fine when I came to again. I wasn't even done being wheeled to my room yet and woke up. A minute or so after when I got into my room, I felt totally awake and alert. Since it was my first surgery, I was so afraid of nausea after coming to (since I had heard this happens a lot and did happen to my dad after he had surgery), but I didn't even have that.
Up until the day of my surgery, I was also very nervous since I'd never had surgery before. All these thoughts ran through my head, however, very surprisingly to me, on the morning of my surgery, I had absolutely no more nervousness. I think I had just been in so much pain and agony and simply couldn't take it anymore that I just wanted to get my surgery done and hopefully feel better afterwarRAB. I should say that once the anesthesiologist starts injecting whatever it is they first inject, you go out like a light in a matter of seconRAB...at least I did. I only remeraber being in a holding room with a bunch of other patients, separated by hanging sheets, he came over to talk to me, calm me if needed. I felt the pinch of a needle and the next thing I knew, I was being wheeled back into my room after surgery. So all in all, regarding the anesthesia and during the surgery itself, I did not have any problems at all. The only thing, which I don't know if it was a problem or not, was that nurses were constantly monitoring my blood pressure afterwarRAB up until I went home. They had said it had to go up to a certain point before I could be released. But I am guessing that is probably normal after surgery.
I had multi-level laminectomies and foraminotomies, but no fusion so your surgery will be much more involved than mine. It is a fact, though, that even though you get painkillers after surgery, it still hurts a lot! I don't want to scare you, but I certainly want to tell you the truth. My back felt as if it was jello. OMG, I could not even change position or even move slightly to the left or right or anything. Then...I had to use the bathroom! LOLOL I am stubborn, so I was not going to ask for any help doing that..so I just sucked up the pain somehow and got out of my bed to go, though it sure did take a while. First I thought I might wet myself! I also had my surgery out of state, so the drive was over 2 hours...and it was NOT any fun on the way home, especially going over bumps and such.
I will say, though, that every day, the pain got a little better, and after 2 1/2 weeks or so, it was much more tolerable. I had my first post-surgery checkup after 2 1/2 weeks and I did not even take another painkiller script that was offered. I made do with ibuprofen and/or tyelnol for the rest of my recovery. God, how I wish I had some muscle relaxers, though.
Some of the best things to have after surgery are:
A big plastic garbage bag to put under you in the car...let me tell you, this is the best thing ever to aid you in getting in and out, especially when you can't really move. You can just use your arms and turn yourself and it's a HUGE help!
You must get a grabber
You should probably get a raised toilet seat
You might want to get a shower seat as well
You need slippers and shoes that do not tie...shoes that you can slip on and off easily without bending
Of course there are a host of other things that help as mentioned in that sticky...and I am sure there will be others who've had the same surgery as you who can offer some better advice. I do wish you lots of luck with your surgery and I know it can be nerve-racking, but try to think of it as looking forward to pain relief rather than worry about having surgery.
