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I broke my ankle recently and it had to be operated on. I was pretty scared but apparently it needed some pins in it. I was very surprised when they said that I can either be put to sleep during the op or if I wanted I could choose instead to have an injection in my spine which would paralyse me from the waist downwards. They told me that the advantage of this was that there would be a faster recovery time and that I would feel better after the op.

I was pretty nervous - but I chose the spinal - mainly because I was very curious about it actually!

Well it was really quite amazing. I was able to watch most of the operation. It was very strange because I was convinced that could feel the weight of my legs on the operating table but when I looked down, I could see the holding a leg (my leg!!) and coating it with some anti-bacterial wash. It just seemed to be someone else's leg as I was sure that my own leg was firmly on the operating table. It was absloutely bizarre and in fact I burst out laughing at the whole idea durig the operation.

I was kept in a recovery room until feeling returned and I could move a bit - took about 90 minutes. By about 3 or 4 hours later I was feeling fine - other than the pain in the ankle.

I must say that I would choose this kind of anaesthesia again without hesitation.

How long were you in plaster for after that?

you know, I had an operation on my finger once, I know its not the same, but I sliced the end off.
The hospital said I had to go general anethestic, but I got too hungry to wait, so they did a local instead, and I watched the whole thing. It is wierd that you can "feel" whats happening, but not feel pain, and to see the surgeon do his thing, and explain it all to me, that was priceless! If it could be done to everyone like that, I would recommend it, as it teachs you so much about the skin you are in

lol yeh i had 2 c-sections while i was awake and 2 while i was asleep, i must say i much prefer being awake and recovered alot quicker. It is a weird feeling tho, you just feel a little pulling and prodding but you legs feel like dead weights. A little like an MS attack for me lol

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