Topic: anyone have a major surgery before?

[MrCATV]

tomorrow morning, i'm getting my spine fused at my L4/5 disc which has been completely degenerated for the past year now.  i'm super anxious about it.  i probably wouldn't be too worried if it was an operation on say my knee or shoulder or any extremity like that, but they have to go through my stomach, move all my vital organs to one side to get a straight shot at my disc and replace it.  all those organs being in play has me super nervous about it, i'll be lucky if i get any sleep tonight.

anybody else have something similar done or have any tips for being more relaxed about it?

[FreebirdSTF]

No, I had laproscopic hernia surgery and that was it.  Good luck. 

[freud mayweather]

good luck, brother. you'll be alright.

[Prime]

Good luck man.

[MrCATV]

thanks for all the kind wishes.  my surgery got put off to the 15th of february thanks to this fiasco:

So I injured my back badly a little over a year ago.  I worked through it for like 8 months until I couldn't bear it anymore, its just messed up beyond belief and doing construction for a living wasn't helping it.  I've been through physical therapy, chiropractor's, a foray of steroidal injections at the pain management clinic and nothing helped.  Finally it was agreed upon to have surgery.  I'm supposed to have a spinal fusion at my disc between the L4 & 5 vertabraes.

Today was the day I was supposed to have my surgery.  Its at Norwood Hospital which is a little over an hour drive from where I live because thats where my neurosurgeon is located.  I've been on 7.5 mg percocets and muscle relaxors, and I do smoke weed which helps with the pain and the anxiety of having surgery.  Anyways, I go in there and they have me take a urine test before the surgery while they are getting me prepped up.

The results from the urine test come in and I tested positive for Methamphetamines.  I was like, no way, I've never even seen meth before, let alone done it recently.  The anasthesiologist refused to start the surgery because the combination of the anaesthetic and certain drugs(meth, coke, regular amphetamines) can cause a heart attack.  Now he's giving me a hard time treating me like a drug addict saying thats probably why my heartrate was high at my pre-surgery testing(which it was high cuz i downed a hot chocolate right before).  Telling me that the weed i smoke may have been laced with meth, which is also bullshit cuz I know where my weed is grown and know that its clean as can be.

So my doctor comes in and he gives me a hard time too because it affects his schedule and I wasted his time(as if my time wasn't wasted since i've been waiting practically a whole year for this surgery to be done and over with).  So he gives me the rundown of what to avoid and whatnot and they'll have to reschedule the surgery for next month.

I come home and start googling the medicines i've been taking and come to find out zantac(the heartburn medicine) has been known to give people false positives for Meth on urine tests.  So I went through all that bullshit and couldn't have my surgery cuz I have heartburn and need to take Zantac for it almost every day.  So now I have to wait three more weeks in agonizing pain cuz the doctors can't differentiate zantac from crystal meth.  sweet blog, i know, continue on with the rest of your day.

[GesusKriest]

Some people just shouldn't be paid for the jobs they do.

Sorry you have to wait.  Hope the surgery goes well when it finally does happen.

[BobbyR]

I don't want to freak you out, but are you sure you trust these doctors?

[Linus]

Some people just shouldn't be paid for the jobs they do.

Sorry you have to wait.  Hope the surgery goes well when it finally does happen.

If it's a false positive, the test gives the result, the doctor doesn't. It's not the doctor's fault that he got a false positive. He has to go with the result he has. He'd be a bad doctor if he ignored the result.

[BobbyR]

true, but the doctor should also be familiar with what causes false positives and maybe take 2 minutes to explore it.

[Linus]

true, but the doctor should also be familiar with what causes false positives and maybe take 2 minutes to explore it.

He did. He said what to do and what not to do and to come back later for a retest.  The test can't differentiate zantac from meth, and the doctor can't exclude a positive response just because a patient says so. He's  concerned with both the patients safety and his professional career and he'd be endangering both if he went ahead.

The doctor went with the information he had and performed correctly. It's an annoying result, but the doctor behaved correctly.

[BobbyR]

I see your point. The anesthesiologist bothers me more, but yeah, I guess I can see them erring on the side of caution - if only to avoid getting sued

After all, Like the great Dr House says, everybody lies.

[GesusKriest]

He did. He said what to do and what not to do and to come back later for a retest.  The test can't differentiate zantac from meth, and the doctor can't exclude a positive response just because a patient says so. He's  concerned with both the patients safety and his professional career and he'd be endangering both if he went ahead.

The doctor went with the information he had and performed correctly. It's an annoying result, but the doctor behaved correctly.

I was speaking more of the anesthesiologist and less of the doctor.  He was being a humongous douchebag and doesn't deserve his job.

I agree with your post about the doctor.  It is always best to err on the side of caution in these cases.

[MrCATV]

its a shitty circumstance, but there's no use getting mad about it for too long.  just have to switch to prilosec and wait it out

[Linus]

I was speaking more of the anesthesiologist and less of the doctor.  He was being a humongous douchebag and doesn't deserve his job.

I agree with your post about the doctor.  It is always best to err on the side of caution in these cases.

I'm kind of on the anesthesiologists side too, unfortunately. THere's probably a fair proportion of people who just bullshit about what they have or haven't taken. Also, if someone is stoned, I'd definitely be more likely to see them as a drug risk than someone who hasn't taken anything.

Was the Zantac down on the chart as being a drug you were talking, CATV? THe anesthesiologist should have probably have checked medications for the false positive, if that's the case, and you can ignore the preceding paragraph.

He still shouldn't have admitted you on the false positive, but he could have at least found out the possible cause.

[FATSEXY]

Find a new weed source.
Best wishes. I will pray for you.

[Chus-Kay]

if you found out the doctor tested positive for drugs, but he said he didn't do drugs, would you trust him to do the operation?  or would you wait for another test to confirm?

ETA: my point being that you don't know your doctor any more than he knows you so your word isn't enough for him to risk your life and his profession.

[Little Jimmy]

if you found out the doctor tested positive for drugs, but he said he didn't do drugs, would you trust him to do the operation?  or would you wait for another test to confirm?

ETA: my point being that you don't know your doctor any more than he knows you so your word isn't enough for him to risk your life and his profession.

I might be reading it wrong, but it seems like the anger is more based in being treated like a junkie, the procedure being postponed is just the shit flavored icing on the shit flavored cake.

[MrCATV]

nah, most the anger was having the procedure postponed when i was in the hospital with an IV in me ready to go.  having to wait 3 more weeks in pain which now puts the rehab process back three weeks really saddened me.  being talked down to over a 'false positive' just pushed it that much further.