Hello doctor, I am 35 years old. I am having breast implant explantation surgery in four days. I have bad anxiety and the thought of anesthesia really scares me. I am a mother and the thought of being over sedated or not waking up at all is frightening. My surgeon has agreed to use local and MAC anesthesia, because I did not want general. Can they give me just light sedation so I am not totally out? If my surgeon would have agreed to just do local with a pain pill I would have been on board. Unfortunately, he did not go for that. I do trust my surgeon, he placed my implants almost 10 years ago and now the left implant is deflated (I have saline implants). I am also worried as when they asked if I smoked I was only thinking of cigarettes and said no. Then I called and told them I do smoke Marijuana daily. They told me to stop five days before. But I am worried now since reading online that some prefer two weeks clean. Will this cause me to be at an even greater risk now? Also, I have a minor cold and cough, no fever but coughing some sputum up. Nothing major and stopping smoking weed could be a contributing factor now. I do not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. I have a history of congenital cervical spinal fusion (two discs), TMJ, and anxiety, panic attacks. I exercise regularly and I am on no other prescribed medication besides Xanax 0.5 mg at bedtime which I only actually take a half tablet of when needed and that does the trick for me. I take an Emergen-C immune plus vitamin pack daily and a Stress-B complex daily (which they have not told me to stop). I am an RN and have been trying to rationalize and reassure myself that it is a common procedure and others older and in worse condition have surgeries all the time and are fine. My mind frame is so different than it was 10 years ago, where I easily trusted surgery and after augmentation was fine. I am praying daily that I will just be fine and I am over thinking everything too much. Any insight and thoughts would be wonderful.
Hello. It seems you are worrying a lot about small things. About the anesthesia, you need to understand the reason behind why we give GA (general anesthesia) and not local in such surgeries. The doctor is going to open the breast tissue and will be inserting the implant and then closing it carefully not to get a visible scar on the breast. If the patient moves the body by mistake, then there can be a wrong cut made on the skin or elsewhere which will spoil the purpose of beautification. To stop the movement, we give GA. If you can control your body movement, then LA (local anesthesia) might be an option. He cannot do this on a tablet for the same reason, you will move on pain and he will make mistakes. And there are no side effects for any sedation, everything gets back to normal in one day. Five days marijuana stoppage is fine. It does not cause any effects on the breast augmentation process. As long as fever is not there, there should be no problem with the cough also. I think you are all fit to go in for the surgery and I am sure you will come out of it with enhanced elegance. Just feel relaxed and do not worry about smaller issues at all. Let me know if you have any other worries and we will sort it out for your confidence booster.