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I had to go for a bronchoscopy the other day in advance of surgery next week. They explained the procedure--they would sedate me, giving me a breathing treatment to open up the bronchial tubes and numb my throat, shoot some numbing stuff up my nose, give me oxygen in one nostril and then run the scope up my nose and down my throat and look at the bronchial area.
I was given the pulmonary doctor's name who was doing the procedure. I waited a long time in the room where they do the scope before a doctor came in, asked me if the procedure had been explained, etc., and then he said he would be back in half an hour to do the procedure. Stupid me assumed this was Dr. X whose name I'd been given.
The nurses were nice and kept me company while I waited. Although I was nervous, I began to relax a bit because they all seemed competent. Then the doctor comes back with two others. I asked why there were so many and they all grinned and said they were there to assist. They sedated me and I felt myself drifting but opened my eyes again and I saw her with another tube of the sedative stuff and then I was out.
And then I woke up. That thing was up my nose and down my throat and I felt as though I was choking. I was struggling and trying to talk and I couldn't breathe. It was awful. Then I was out again and the next thing I know I woke up and they were taking me to recovery. Everyone was looking at me funny as if I'd done something wrong--which sounds stupid, I know, but no one was smiling. The nice nurse who'd started me off looked very concerned and said she would be around to see me in the recovering room, but she never came. I woke up, they gave me a sandwich, and I got dressed. Then Dr. X comes to see me to discharge me and tell me that everything looked OK, but I had never seen this man. He wasn't in the bronchoscopy room that I ever saw. I'm guessing they sent in interns to learn how to do a bronchoscopy on ME and that the first doctor was maybe a little more senior and the one in charge of them, but he wasn't the pulmonary doctor whose name I'd been given and whom I assumed he was.
Later I found out from my sister that the nice nurse had come to see her after the procedure and told her that I must have been anxious because they had to sedate me four times. I don't remember all that, but I really think they screwed up something and they are trying to blame me being anxious somehow. I also remember her saying the procedure took 35 minutes and it was supposed to take 15 or 20.
Anyway, when I go for the actual thyroid surgery on Monday, I'm going to make sure that the surgeon who is supposed to do the surgery is actually going to do the surgery or I will walk out of that hospital and go find someone else. This is BS. Shouldn't they tell you if you are going to be used for experimentation???
I would be pissed. If the procedure was done in a teaching hospital, you could expect something like that, but in a dr's office? You will probably never know exactly what happened, but for sure it would make me lose trust in the doctor, and I would be uneasy about the upcoming surgery.
I would be pissed. If the procedure was done in a teaching hospital, you could expect something like that, but in a dr's office? You will probably never know exactly what happened, but for sure it would make me lose trust in the doctor, and I would be uneasy about the upcoming surgery.
No, it was in a hospital, but I didn't know it to be a "teaching" hospital.
I am just not very experienced when it comes to hospitals--I've been very fortunate with my health in that regard that I've made it to 55 with only one hospitalization and that was a C-section for the birth of my daughter 22 years ago. I had no time to worry about it in advance because I went to the hospital for a fetal non-stress test and she was in distress and they whipped me down the hall and cut me open and took her out. I have not been sick much in my life and have not had many medical tests. I am way behind in the regular tests that they like to send you for like colonoscopies and whatnot. The thyroid thing needed attention because it has gotten so large that it's affecting my breathing. I try to avoid doctors in general and I don't go running into a doctor's office every time I get a sniffle.
Anyway, I realize now that I should not have assumed that the doctor who came to speak with me first was the actual pulmonary doctor whose name I was given and I should have realized that when three "doctors" came into the bronchoscopy room, this was some kind of training session.
I think you are making too many assumptions based on too few facts, possibly colored by the effects of the sedation. Depending on what medication you had, amnesia for all or part of the procedure is common and even desirable. It helps to forget unpleasant experiences. That might account for your not remembering everyone in the room.
Yes, you should absolutely be told exactly who will be doing your procedure. However, it is not unusual for one person to do the pre-op visit, another to do the procedure, and someone else to check on you prior to discharge.
If the facility is a teaching hospital, you very likely signed something as part of the consent for the procedure that allows interns and residents to participate in your care. If they do, they will identify themselves to you.
It is unlikely that an intern would actually perform a bronchoscopy, by the way. It is a procedure that would be introduced at a higher level of training, nowadays often preceded by practicing on a manikin.
Every pulmonary specialist has to do his first bronchoscopy on someone, but it will be supervised by someone with experience. It might help if you realize that there is a difference between training someone to do a procedure and being used as a guinea pig in an experiment. If you were having a novel procedure, then you could consider yourself a guinea pig. The reason people allow themselves to be used as guinea pigs is that they hope to benefit from a new treatment, so even being a guinea pig is a valid role in the medical scheme of things.
It is unfortunate that your sedation wore off during the procedure. That is more likely to be due to the way your body metabolizes the drugs than it does with any anxiety.
I think you are making too many assumptions based on too few facts, possibly colored by the effects of the sedation. Depending on what medication you had, amnesia for all or part of the procedure is common and even desirable. It helps to forget unpleasant experiences. That might account for your not remembering everyone in the room.
Yes, you should absolutely be told exactly who will be doing your procedure. However, it is not unusual for one person to do the pre-op visit, another to do the procedure, and someone else to check on you prior to discharge.
If the facility is a teaching hospital, you very likely signed something as part of the consent for the procedure that allows interns and residents to participate in your care. If they do, they will identify themselves to you.
It is unlikely that an intern would actually perform a bronchoscopy, by the way. It is a procedure that would be introduced at a higher level of training, nowadays often preceded by practicing on a manikin.
Every pulmonary specialist has to do his first bronchoscopy on someone, but it will be supervised by someone with experience. It might help if you realize that there is a difference between training someone to do a procedure and being used as a guinea pig in an experiment. If you were having a novel procedure, then you could consider yourself a guinea pig. The reason people allow themselves to be used as guinea pigs is that they hope to benefit from a new treatment, so even being a guinea pig is a valid role in the medical scheme of things.
It is unfortunate that your sedation wore off during the procedure. That is more likely to be due to the way your body metabolizes the drugs than it does with any anxiety.
Thanks for the info. Yes, it's likely that I did sign something that allowed others to do the procedure. However, I was lying on the table/bed/rolling thing in that bronchoscopy room for two full hours before they got around to doing the procedure. I was not sedated and was fully aware of my surroundings.
The only doctor who had come in while I was lying there was the first one who checked to see if the nurse had explained the procedure ad then he said he had a meeting to go to and would be back in half an hour. I mistakenly assumed he was Dr. X who I was told was doing the procedure. When he came back, he had two other guys with him. I was NOT sedated at that point. Yes, it's possible that the actual pulmonary doctor whose name I'd been given came in after I WAS sedated, but the fact remains that I never met the actual doctor until I was out of the recovery room and back in the curtained area where my belongings were and he came to see me to discharge me. I was surprised that HE was Dr. X because he was not one of the three that had walked into the bronchoscopy room and he was not the first doctor I'd met, who I'd assumed was Dr. X. I am in no way confused about this: The doctor who I assumed was Dr. X is black, the two guys who came into the bronchoscopy room were Asian and Indian, and the doctor who was the real Dr. X is white.
As far as the anxiety thing goes, that's what the nurse told my sister--that I must have been anxious because they had to sedate me FOUR times. I just found out about the four times when I spoke with my sister a little while ago.
Anyway, the upside is that I know my bronchial "trees" are normal and there is nothing more going on in my throat/vocal chords than the goiter, and I know to verify with my surgeon on Monday before the surgery that HE will actually be performing the surgery. I don't give a rat's ass if "someone" has to start doing a thyroidectomy "somewhere". I chose this surgeon because of his experience and expertise for this type of surgery. If he is inclined to turn it over to someone who needs practice, I will walk out and find another surgeon in another hospital. Fortunately, unlike many others, I have some of the best health insurance coverage in the country.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 09-21-2013 at 01:56 PM..
I have never had an experience like that!! I've been through more than my share of surgeries too.
My doctor is the one that sees me first and does the procedure. I would feel like a guinea pig too in your shoes.
Watch that anxiety though. I get it bad when something needs to be done and apparently the body can begin to put liquid into the stomach during times of anxiety and mine had to be pumped once while I was under. Not pleasant. Although you don't know it, the burning all the way up and down when you wake up is awful.
Try and relax beforehand. Easier said than done, I know. Ask lots of questions until you are comfortable and satisfied with the answers.
I have never had an experience like that!! I've been through more than my share of surgeries too.
My doctor is the one that sees me first and does the procedure. I would feel like a guinea pig too in your shoes.
Watch that anxiety though. I get it bad when something needs to be done and apparently the body can begin to put liquid into the stomach during times of anxiety and mine had to be pumped once while I was under. Not pleasant. Although you don't know it, the burning all the way up and down when you wake up is awful.
Try and relax beforehand. Easier said than done, I know. Ask lots of questions until you are comfortable and satisfied with the answers.
Best of luck and let us know how you're doing.
Thank you. The good part is that I'm actually a little less anxious now about Monday because the surgery is in the same area as the bronchoscopy (the same-day surgery section) and it will be familiar to me. Plus I just had something done and now I have to get something else done--it seems easier to go back now. I've also been on other floors for the chest X-ray and CT scan. The nurses and staff at this hospital are all very nice, too, which helps.
Thank you. The good part is that I'm actually a little less anxious now about Monday because the surgery is in the same area as the bronchoscopy (the same-day surgery section) and it will be familiar to me. Plus I just had something done and now I have to get something else done--it seems easier to go back now. I've also been on other floors for the chest X-ray and CT scan. The nurses and staff at this hospital are all very nice, too, which helps.
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