What is Anesthesia?  

• Anesthesia keeps you pain free during surgery.
• Your fear and anxiety can be alleviated by the medications you are given by your anesthesiologist.
• Anesthesia can cause you to lose feeling or sensation during the operation with or without loss of consciousness.  

What types of Anesthesia are there? 

• Local Anesthesia
  • You remain awake, but the part of your body that will be operated upon is made numb to pain. This loss of pain sensation is produced by directly injecting the area to be treated with numbing medication.
• Monitored Anesthesia Care (MAC)
  • You will be given pain medication and/or a sedative, in conjunction with a local anesthetic, to keep you comfortable during the procedure.
  • Patients often recover quickly from this type of anesthesia.
• Regional Anesthesia
  • You remain awake, but the entire area of your body affected by the surgery is made free of pain.
  • Regional anesthetics such as spinal, epidural or caudal are most commonly used in obstetrics and surgical procedures of the lower abdomen, pelvis and lower extremities.
  • Nerve Blocks are a type of regional anesthesia most commonly used to numb a single extremity such as one arm or one leg.
  • You may also receive sedatives to ease your anxiety. These sedatives do not cause unconsciousness, but may leave you with little or no memory of the procedure.
• General Anesthetic
  • You are asleep and your whole body is made free of pain.
  • It is given by intravenous injection of medications and inhalation of anesthetic gases.
  • You may have a breathing tube during the procedure to help you breathe. It is placed after you are asleep and removed before you awake.

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What type of anesthesia will I have? 

• You may be given either local, MAC, regional, general anesthesia or a combination of one or more types of anesthesia.
• Your surgeon and your anesthesiologist will discuss with you the type of anesthesia, which will meet your needs during your surgery.
• Anesthesia can cause you to lose feeling or sensation during the operation with or without loss of consciousness.

What are common side effects? 

• Mild nausea or vomiting for a day or two after surgery is not uncommon. It is more likely to occur if you have a history of nausea and vomiting with past surgeries, if you are susceptible to motion sickness or if you had any type of laparoscopic procedure.
• Depending on the type of anesthesia you receive, you may experience a sore throat, headache, drowsiness, muscle ache and/or fatigue for a few days after your procedure.  

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Who will administer my anesthesia? 

• An anesthesiologist will administer anesthesia during your procedure.
• You will have an opportunity to speak with an anesthesiologist the morning of your surgery.  

Before your Procedure 

• To get the best results, work with your doctors and nurses to choose the method that will work best for you. We want to make your surgery as pain free as we can. But you are the key to getting the best pain relief because pain is personal. The amount or type of pain you feel may not be the same as others feel, even those who have had the same operation.
• Being prepared helps put you in control.
• Ask the doctor or nurse:
  • Will there be much pain after surgery?
  • Where will it occur?
  • How long is it likely to last
• Be sure to:
  • Talk about pain control methods that have worked well or not so well for you before.
  • Talk about any concerns you may have about pain medicine
  • Ask about side effects that may occur with treatment
• You will meet your anesthesiologist in the pre-operative area just prior to your procedure to discuss any concerns about how your discomfort will be managed.
• Your anesthesiologist and operating room nurse are responsible for keeping you comfortable during your procedure.

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After Your Procedure 

• Your Post Anesthesia Care Unit/Recovery Room (PACU) nurse and an anesthesiologist will manage your discomfort after surgery.
• The amount of discomfort you have is usually related to the type of surgery you've had.
• Anesthesia can cause you to lose feeling or sensation during the operation with or without loss of consciousness.
• In the PACU you will be given pain medication as needed.
• You can expect to have some discomfort, but it should be tolerable.
• Often you will be given a dose of the pain medication that you will be taking when you are discharged to home.