Any theatre nurses/ people familiar with theatre?

[SloeBerri]

I had surgery and it just intrigued me what went on in the second I closed my eyes! I was in a quiet anaesthetic room, then loads of people and change in recovery!

I was wearing another wristband, coloured with the name of the health trust- why? Why then?

I was lying on a large in continence pad, is this the norm? Was I rolled? When? Or is it just because I was given a load of fluid (it was dry...)

When do they take the tube out? Theatre or recovery?

I was very tachycardic and had a lot of stomach pain for some reason, I was too confused to really ask when anaesthetist and surgeon were still there. Seemed like everyone was talking to me and I went back to sleep for ages. Felt like I’d run a race

Anaesthetist here. Can't answer all your questions as every trust does things slightly differently, and some of the answers will depend on what sort of surgery you've had done.

• Wristband - most likely needed to be cut off to put in a cannula or something, so they replaced it with a new one. Or sometimes if surgical prep solutions get splashed on some wristbands it destroys the printing so it might have become unreadable. We don't routinely change wristbands unless we have to take the old one off for whatever reason.

• Yes, very common to be put on an incontinence pad post-op, even if the op wasn't on your bladder/bowels. You will have probably been turned and slid from bed/trolley to operating table, and then from table back to trolley/bed, and the sheets underneath you changed at the end. As you've been unconscious and probably given some IV fluid, it's just playing it safe in case you have an accident.

• Depends on the type of tube (which depends on the anaesthetist and the type of operation). Endotracheal tubes usually come out in theatre, laryngeal masks/iGels more often in recovery. ETTs should be removed under direct supervision of an anaesthetist, whereas LMAs can be removed by recovery nurses.

• I don't know what caused those specific symptoms, but yes, it's quite normal to wake up for a bit in recovery then go straight back to sleep!

Hope that helps a bit.

SockQueen sorry to hijack but I had a big scary op quite recently and the anaesthetist and the nurse working with him were the nicest people- before and after. The thing I remember as I drifted off was them having told me they’d be sat with me every minute through the whole (loooong) op. And they were so caring when they came to check on me afterwards.

The surgeons were probably lovely too but the anaesthetist is who I remember.

Anaesthetists rock. Such an important job and they've always treated me skilfully and so respectfully. Thank you Sock and any others reading.

I've quite often come round but in a confused bleary way in recovery and then drifted off again.

@SockQueen thanks! It never occurred to me I moved off the trolley lol, but that makes sense.

Yes the anaesthetist is who I remember, chatted for a while before and was there after- she was lovely.

The wristband was a second coloured pink one, in addition to the ID one. Just with the name of the trust. Odd