Having an operation today and terrified

[HangryBlueCritic]

Posting for traffic really and to stop myself walking out and not getting the operation. I’ve had operations before and always been nervous but my anxiety is off the scale. Convinced myself Im going to bleed out or they will make a mistake. Genuinely don’t feel I can go through with this.

Hang in there...you'll be fine. Is anyone with you? You have a huge medical team around you, all wanting it to go well and for whom this is routine. Hugs.

I have been in this place and it was fine. I’d advise telling the staff that you’re nervous and what your worries are. They will reassure you and make sure you are okay.

Good luck. Can you speak to a sympathetic nurse to go through the what it's?

It's such a powerless feeling that you go to sleep and never really know what happens. I can relate!

Go in for the op and tell them how you are feeling. They’ll be so used to this. They can give you a pre med to help calm you. You’ll be fine, they’ll really look after you. Best of luck

I had an op three weeks ago. I spoke to a friend who is an ACP beforehand and said I was terrified of something bad happening. I was assured that I would be fine and we'll looked after because there would be too much paperwork otherwise...!

Seriously though, this is the surgeon's job and won't be his first rodeo.

I found all the staff I came in contact with to be friendly and relaxed and they definitely put me at ease.

Hope all goes well.

No I sent DH home to look after the dog and to be honest I’m not great to be around when I’m anxious I didn’t want to be snappy but I know he would be chatty and I’m struggling to put sentences together.

Ask them if you can have something for anxiety when you get to hospital, it’ll help calm you down :)

Thank you everyone here is relaxed to the point of laid back to be fair. The consultant has been round and he was very nice and I have googled him and he’s clearly a very experienced man. Just got myself so convinced it’s going to go badly.

I’ve had a lot of op’s and you’ll be fine. You’ll be getting better looked after during an operation than at any other time in hospital.

To you, the op is a big thing - to hospital staff, it’s their routine. 💐

What’s the alternative?

if they’re not even giving you the risks (I’ve never been cautioned about death or bleeding except for my c sections! - and that wasn’t death) then they’re so tiny theyre not worth discussing.

I’m not great at asking for help so everytime someone pops by I just say I’m fine.

Not sure there’s an alternative to be honest. Could leave only to find out there’s something much worse going on so it’s sensible to go ahead

Thank you for everyone who has posted o appreciate the support

You’ll be fine. Keep thinking ‘it’ll be over soon’ and distract yourself. No one likes it but if needs must we just have to do it. Keep on going ☀️

Do you feel happy to share what op you are having?
Might be people here who have had the very same who could reassure you?

I was terrified when I had my lymph nodes removed but it all went fine.
I am diagnosed with anxiety disorder and the staff really went the extra mile for me because I had told them about it.

Tell a nurse you borderline ducking out due to fear now and they can bring you something to calm you down.

It will be fine, please ask for some help or a chat with a nurse.

I too have a big operation coming up, I’m scared of the what ifs, I’m scared for my recovery after too.

But this is the good bit, I need it. I can’t live like this, it hurts every day and my life could be so much better after it.

I find thinking those things helps me be kind to myself and to know it’s ok to feel nervous about surgery. Yes it’s a big thing but operations happen every day and there is a huge team of people there to look after you.

Im so glad you mentioned your DH and your dog, they will be so happy to have you home and on the mend after it x

Ive an op on Wednesday. Atm, im trying not to think about it. Ive never had a general anaesthetic, so thats whats worrying me the most!
Im sure all will go well for you. You'll go to sleep and before you know it, you'll wake up and it will.be all done.
Goodluck!

Glad everyone is relaxed around you. It definitely helped me.

What didn't help was being pushed up from second in the queue to first with about a 5 second warning! In hindsight, it gave me a lot less worrying time!

Think of all the positives that having the op will give you. They don't tend to remove body parts if they don't need to so there must be some benefit to the op!

Have they talked about risk of death or severe bleeding?

To put things into perspective, I was with DP several years ago as he was waiting to have surgery. It was minimally invasive and low risk. When the same team spoke to the chap in the next bay we heard them discuss (through the highly confidential curtain) he had a 65% chance of NOT making it through his surgery, that's before taking into account risk of blood loss or anaesthetic.

Most ops in the UK are routine - the surgeon, anaesthetist and their teams do this several times a day/week

I’m having a laparoscopy and ablation for endometriosis. Also having cyst and polyps removed.

Of course you're nervous, that's understandable. DM had a serious op a few years back. The staff were so lovely and the surgeon was very reassuring, a really kind woman.

You'll be back on the ward in no time, none the wiser, with your tea & toast😊

Ive had about 6 ops . Last year had my 7th (Hystorectomy) complete success .Feel so much better (even though followed by 6 sessions of chemo!) Even then I felt so nervous beforehand . Try to relax .this is just like a day in the office for the Surgeon. I always try to think ,this time next week it will be someone else s turn .and I will be at home having a nice recovery period!

No talk about those type of risks. The anaesthetist gave a leaflet about anaesthesia risks but was more concerned about if I had loose teeth or a crown.

Well I haven’t had that done but I can say something that helped me was to look past the op and think about what I would do when I got home. Nice things like being cosy in bed watching a good programme with my cat curled up next to me and tea and biscuits close to hand.

Also that the op is the start of you feeling better.

I bet tomorrow you will be here telling us all it went fine.

Sending you very best wishes and purrs from Lily the cat.

Thinking of you OP.
Entirely understandable how you're feeling
It's kind of not logical though - I'm sure statistics would demonstrate how massively rare your fears being reality are.
But that's the thing isn't it , it's a huge primal fear that doesn't respond to reason.
You could mention it to a nurse , they very likely could help.
What helps me in similar situations is to keep thinking to myself , this time tomorrow... I'll be through this and updating my thread.
Sorry , not sure I've been much help.
Have some