September 9th surgery

[loves to skate]

Melissa, You should be able to go straight home after three days in the hospital so long as you have someone to get meals on the table for you. Peanut butter crackers have been my stable. Best wishes, Sally

[mabeckoff]

Melissa, You should be able to go straight home after three days in the hospital so long as you have someone to get meals on the table for you. Peanut butter crackers have been my stable. Best wishes, Sally

Thanks Sally for the info.My daughter will be coming home next Tuesday .

Melissa

[Pooka1]

interesting...i started to look that up on internet...

it said ketamine can lift symptoms of depression for 7-10 days...
but no mention of PERMANENT relief...

i saw it is in clinical trials for tx of PTSD...as of 2012

but if it didn't relieve the PTSD permanently, then it would be a tx, not
a cure....
????????????????
it did say it worked rapidly...and it reconnects nerves to form new pathways...
it also said it gets rid of fearful memories...

I heard some first person accounts of complete remission with only one or a few doses during an NPR report on this.

i would think the doctor who wrote and talked about his experience
with heaven...i saw him on TV...would know about ketamine and would
have ruled out the drug as what caused his experience to happen...

You would think so but apparently not. The neurosurgeon's account has been completely debunked.

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/this-must-be-heaven

As one of his correspondents has already informed him, similar experiences can be had with ketamine, which is a surgical anesthetic that is occasionally used to protect a traumatized brain. Did Alexander by any chance receive ketamine while in the hospital? Would he even think it relevant if he had? His assertion that psychedelics like DMT and ketamine “do not explain the kind of clarity, the rich interactivity, the layer upon layer of understanding” he experienced is perhaps the most amazing thing he has said since he returned from heaven. Such compounds are universally understood to do the job. And most scientists believe that the reliable effects of psychedelics indicate that the brain is at the very least involved in the production of visionary states of the sort Alexander is talking about.

[LindaRacine]

Dr Bederman said that UCI orthopedic department is using ketamine during surgery in order to cut down on post op pain. He said that they felt it was worth it so that less narcotics were needed.

I will never use it again. I lost a whole week of my life.

Melissa

Ketamine is a routine part of spine surgery periop drugs at UCSF, and I'm guessing at most major spine centers. Patients who are habitualized to strong narcotics also routinely get it for the first few days following their surgeries.

[titaniumed]

I lost a whole week of my life.

Same here Melissa....I don’t know what they gave me, but it seemed that the usual mix of injectables(Morphine, Lortab and Dilauid) that were given after ICU, I recovered from, or my mind recovered from. There was something about my ICU stay that was different, and it wasn’t the adjustment on my television.....I was on a different planet. The people that came down attested to this. I told them not to come, and they came anyway. I lost around 5 days of memory.

I have always known Ketamine to be Cat tranquilizer. I don’t know if you have cats but you can always threaten with Ketamine if your kitties are beyond control. (smiley face)

Or use this.
http://www.amazon.com/Feliway-Behavi.../dp/B001GQI8SS

Controls your cats stress with aerosol drugs....Wow! I don’t know what to think about this......

Glad to see some improvement with things. When you have multiple things wrong, any help is appreciated.

Ed

[LindaRacine]

By the way, it seems to me that losing a week while you're recovering from surgery isn't such a bad thing. With that said, I understand that it's pretty disconcerting. Post op delirium is actually a well known complication after big spinal surgeries. We're building a database of patients that have experienced the problem, to see if we can figure out why it happens.

--Linda

[titaniumed]

It probably was a good thing since I was told I was connected with a spider web of hoses. The hoses are a drag and I was a hose puller. I had no idea till I came back and discovered my wrists tied down. I wonder if they notched the meds up because of this? Another interesting thing is that I had no PCA button. I would have liked to have tried my very own happy button.

I was told that when my friends came to visit, I was just standing there next to the bed all hooked up. Apparently, the lights were on and nobody was home. They asked what was going on, and they told them that Ed likes to stand up......Ok. I would have liked to have known about this. When I first remember standing up, it seemed like I knew what I was doing since it was probably my 10th time.

I lost around 5 or 6 days, didn’t feel a thing, zero pain, didn’t hallucinate. No brain activity at all.

When I came out of this, I was mad as hell and started yelling....being tied down triggered that episode off....but I have to say that losing your mind is extremely disturbing. I think I can understand what having Alzheimer’s is like and believe me, I don’t ever want to go there. This was one of the reasons why I quit my meds abruptly.

Crystal did her very first circumcision yesterday at the children’s hospital. Ye-ha. Most guys would consider that a major, major event. Good thing I don’t remember.....

He he he he he

Ed

[susancook]

Ketamine and ants

Ketamine is a routine part of spine surgery periop drugs at UCSF, and I'm guessing at most major spine centers. Patients who are habitualized to strong narcotics also routinely get it for the first few days following their surgeries.

Postop, I saw ants on my sheets and running around floor, frequently in formation. The more that I looked at them the more they multiplied. I told my daughter to call housekeeping as the hospital was filthy and had bugs. I kept trying to pick bugs off the sheets. Eventually, they convinced me that I was hallucinating from the ketamine, and I could still see the ants, but found them entertaining.

Good thing that I didn't use LSD in the 60s!

Susan

[jackieg412]

It is interesting how much there drugs effect our minds. In my case it was fentanyl. I saw monsters and would wake up frightened. It was the multiple machines around my bed. It caused me to be really upset for awhile. On the drug nucynta I would see my grandchildren playing--but the were not there. In one part of my mind I knew this--but it was so real.

After the 1st surgery--while in rehab--they had me see some therapist and when I asked about this--she said to avoid the drug that does that --as it is an insult to the brain. Mine has enough problems and I don't want to insult it!

[mabeckoff]

I am glad that I will never go thru that week of hell again


Melissa

[mabeckoff]

My daughter has returned this time for good!!

[JenniferG]

Melissa, that's great news. I know how happy this makes you.

And you sure deserve the happiness! I hope your daughter realizes, as an adult, that she must put you first, just as you must put yourself first, right now. I wish you many more good things in your life.

[Doreen1]

How old is your grandson/daughter? Are you able to lift them up comfortably?

[mabeckoff]

How old is your grandson/daughter? Are you able to lift them up comfortably?

She is due in late december/early January. According to Dr Bederman, by that time my back will be totally healed. He said that I can lift whatever feels comfortable to me. There is no way to injure my back. So we shall see

Melissa

[mabeckoff]

I am getting ready for my August 15th hip surgery. It seems like there is more PT needed with this surgery than my back surgeries.