-
It could be different for local anesthesia compared to general, but I just had surgery yesterday for an open tissue repair (and it’s my third hernia surgery in 5 years – first was mesh, second was mesh removal, both robotic, which I hated because of the whole body swelling), and at my hospital I got some gabapentin when I first arrived which tends to help with preop anxiety and makes you a little sleepy and loopy (but only a little). And shortly before they roll you into the OR, they give you a very nice cocktail of meds to immediately relax you and make you feel good. It usually hits you almost instantly and makes you happy and chatty. Then they start the stuff that puts you to sleep, and that’s it. It’s very easy. Next thing you know you’re waking up after surgery. I’ll also add that it’s been about 17 hours since my surgery and I have almost no pain. I am alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen, but no opioids. So severe pain shouldn’t necessarily be expected. Everyone is different, and it can also depend on surgeon and hospital. But it doesn’t have to be a bad experience. Someone on here recently said they had no pain at all after open tissue repair, and another said it wasn’t bad at all with OTC meds. So it seems common enough that it’s only a mild or moderate pain experience. And any pain you do have even if high tends to improve quickly – 2-3 days and then it starts to quickly fade. I think it’s good, once you’ve decided on surgery, to accept you’re making a good decision and that the surgery is a necessary thing to get you all fixed up, and to try and feel excited and focus on how you will ultimately feel as you heal once you’re past this first few days. And that you might not even experience much pain in the first place. I assume they also give you some feel-good meds if you don’t get general. So either way they’ll likely chemically relax you which honestly is a nice thing. So far (but it’s still early) I’ve much preferred the open tissue repair to the robotic lap experience. Will update when/if that changes.