Having surgery and I feel like an absolute wreck

[ChattyChai]

I was told last week I needed sinus surgery. I was told it would be a year away.

I got the call this week and was told it’s actually in two weeks time. I feel totally overwhelmed. I’ve never been put under before and I’m terrified.

im going to be having endoscopic sinus surgery.

im terrified that i wont wake up, im terrified that something will go wrong and ill end up blind, I dont think ill be getting travel insurance so im going to have to cancel my holiday.

im at work and all in a flap. I just want to cry, I was supposed to have a year to decide if I wanted it or not. I wasn’t prepared for this. I’m just not ready for it at all, I’m scared of recovery and everything. I’m not going to get the time off work; because my work are being dicks to me anyway because I’m in my notice. I’m just terrified

I’ve had loads of general anaesthetics, the first as a toddler and the last only a year ago- every single time has been absolutely fine. Don’t worry, do it even if you’re scared and then in a few weeks time you won’t have to think about it again.

Yes I’ll phone them in the morning. My husband is absolutely raging at me and has called me a petulant child, but I just don’t think this is the right course of treatment for me given how my symptoms have improved

I had to wait 2 years for sinus surgery, I would have been over the moon to get seen so quickly.
You will have plenty time to recover after your surgery, I was back at work in a few days.
No one is lying to you, ridiculous statement.

Tbf I’m suprised you’ve got a husband, but I take it no kids yet because you can’t cancel that childbirth pain !! And if you are like this at work no wonder they are Dicks !!I’ve had numerous operations and feel lucky we live in a country where we have great healthcare. I was told on the morning of my knee replacement I’d be awake I was scared but then thought ‘great I can have a coffee now ‘ and I went back to work after two weeks. Just think yourself lucky you haven’t got to wait like a lot of people I know , And if you cancel you should be blacklisted

I had a tonsillectomy three weeks ago today under GA, which was my first time. The procedure wasn’t strictly vital for me to have (and not the best timing at 10 weeks postpartum) but would improve my quality of life and felt like an opportunity to get over my fear of GA with something relatively minor instead of waiting until I needed a big op. I felt like cancelling many times but knew I needed to do it. I am SO glad I did it. The staff were AMAZING, and I promise you that you’ll discover that you didn’t need to spend all that energy worrying about it as it’ll all be absolutely fine on the day. Don’t let the anxiety win.

Oh you poor thing, it sounds like it has all crash landed sooner than you’d planned and that has thrown you off kilter.

I guess you need to ask yourself a few questions :

Is the surgery needed?

Will day to day life be better after you’ve recovered?

Will your anxiety over the operation diminish with a bit more time, or will you just have longer to get worked up, and feel ill for longer?

Talk to your medical team as they will be able to null 95% of your worries xx

Your time off will be dictated by your doctors, not your employer

If recovery and time off is a month, it’s a month

You don't have to have it done, nobody's forcing you. And you can ask them for a date after your holiday. Take some time to find out more and see if you really need the op.

Bear in mind people don’t tend to take to the forums for good news stories, so googling outcomes is nearly always going to give you a gloomy opinion xx

It will be fine OP. I've had loads of ops for various things. I've just had a hip replacement. Free drugs, a nice sleep and time off to get better. Lovely.
Don't delay it, just get it over and done with. My operation was delayed for a year and 6 months because of NHS delays and I was in terrible pain. It was such a blessed relief to get it done and over with.

So, a doctor/surgeon thinks you need it, along with your husband.

But from stubbornness and fear, you've gone to diagnosing yourself that youre OK. I think your husband,who knows you, is right.

They will not offer you the op so freely again as you'll now slip off the list to restart again, should you need it, and with sinus, it will reoccur.

Seems you've control issues/trust you've to get over first.

No need to be so horrid.

I do have kids. And I’d rather do that ten more times than have to have this operation! Anxiety works in strange ways.

The sooner it's done the sooner you will be over it. The recovery will be no better or worse if you wait a year. I don't know how bad your symptoms are, presumably fairly bad or you wouldn't be offered surgery, just look forward to feeling really great once you are recovered.

If it's not essential and you don't want to go through with it cancel, but you will likely regret it when you need to go to the back of the waiting list in a few months or years when it gets worse.

I had 2 days notice!!! They had a last minute cancellation. I was over the moon.

What specifically are you anxious about?

All of it. The anaesthetic, the fact I could go blind, the recovery

Your talking about things that the risk is so tiny you will more likely die on the way to the hospital or win the lottery then go blind or die from anesthetic. They have to tell you the risks but I bet if you specifically asked the dr they would say they have never seen it happen in their whole career or to any drs they know. What has the dr said to you about recovery is it day surgery do you stay in hospital.

As I’ve said - I’ve been told very little. I was told the risks, told it’s a day case, and told to sign. That’s it. Nothing about the actual procedure bar the name, nothing about recovery after (like what I need to do) or anything.

I don’t know why anyone is still bothering to try and reassure you Op. You’re ignoring every sensible piece of advice here. Why did you even start this thread?

The advice is stuff like “refer to what you’ve been told” and I’ve been told absolutely nothing about the procedure or recovery.

Well there’s advice from people who have had v similar procedures, and advice from an actual anaesthetist.

So they say. It conflicts entirely with my own research.

You can call the drs secretary and ask these questions

I don’t get through. I’m just told to leave a voicemail, I did that while waiting for my scan results and they never came back. I left a voicemail yesterday asking to discuss and I’ve heard nothing back.

I totally get the anxiety, OP. I had a hysterectomy in February and was offered a cancellation, so only had about 10 days notice. I was terrified and was in tears on the operating table, saying please don’t let me die, to the nurses. They were so lovely and before I knew it, I was waking up in recovery. You have to remember that to you, this feels massive, but to the doctors, this is totally routine and they will do these operations every day. Of course they have to tell you about the risks but chances are you will be absolutely fine and feel so much better for it.