The anxiety you feel before surgery

[Anonymous]

Goddamn it. I'm having fucking surgery today. Sorry for these bad words; they say profanity helps relieve pain, and I guess maybe I'll need that in the coming hours.

A few weeks ago I noticed a bump on my wrist. I don't think I ever felt worried about it, but I had the doctor check it anyway on an appointment for something else. It was suspected that I had a Ganglion cyst. I found this logical, in comparison to Google pictures of the aforementioned bump.

Fast-forward to a few days ago. I went back to the doctor to check up on it (and something else as well, originally). I was sent to the Radiology place and they did X-rays of my hand.

I got to see the pictures. It's such an ethereal feeling to see your own hand in a different dimension. And still know that it is your real hand.

Anyway, later that afternoon my dad got a message saying it wasn't a Ganglion . . . My wrist was fractured.

So here I wait for my dad to come home so we can leave to Boston, likely over half an hour with the traffic and slight rainfall. My bag is packed. And my heart is racing.

Or, it was. I tried desperately to rejoin an anxiety Facebook group. They still haven't accepted me, so it's too late.

I felt my heart racing, a slightly pained stomach, and pure fear- common anxiety symptoms. Online, I read to think of the good thing that will happen in the event. So I thought about sleeping from anesthesia.

I know so many people have it worse. And I'm sorry if this was too self-centered.

my dad is here now, wish me luck.

[Anonymous]

Well, I think the best part of all this is that it wasn't actually the cyst but just a fracture which is pretty common. I've had surgery before to actually remove what turned out to be a non-cancerous lump in my breast... now talk about some anxiety. They always leave you with, "we think it's all gone, but..." and you've got to live with that for the rest of your life.

Anyway, this is about you, not me, and I think you'll do fine. I'm sure when you wake up to read this, you'll have gotten through it, gotten some pain meds and a nice cast which you can scribble on when you're bored, and move on with life, and that's the nicest bit of all.

[Opinion Owner]

Thanks

[eagle1951]

Good Luck My friend

[myTake Owner]

Thanks haha. Turns out it IS a ganglion cyst. .. it was of my understanding until that moment it was a fracture. The world is so messy

[Anonymous]

I feel you. I had to have my gall bladder removed about 8 years ago and even though I had months to prepare, when it was time to actually do the thing, my anxiety skyrocketed. The way I dealt with it was to talk to my pastor and my family, and to have things in order like who was taking me and picking me up, who was keeping an eye on me that first night, having an advanced directive, asking the doctors and nurses a lot of questions. I had a weird worry about anesthesia, and the anesthesiologist answered a lot of questions that made me feel much better.

You will surely have some pain, but then you just have your Dad ask the doctor for robust, strong pain medication. Do everything your doctors say about helping the injury heal, physical therapy to rehab it, taking care of the incision. Let your family and friends help you with things.

You're going to a reputable hospital in a big city with a prestigious medical school in it. You're going to get the best, safest care. You will not die from the pain - you'll be ok.

If you need to, call a church and ask to talk to the pastor about it - they tend to be very good with this kind of counseling, even if you're not religious.

[Curmudgeon]

If this is any consolation, a fractured wrist is much easier than a cyst, which is often a sign of cancers and larger problems.

And getting anesthetized and going "under the knife" is never easy, so don't feel bad about being "self-centered" at all.

[backdoorman]

Hey, glad to hear it was a cyst after all. I assume that's good news. Either way, best of luck to you. Let us know how it turns out.

[backonthelist]

I've never understood anxiety before stuff like this. I just wasn't looking forward to the nausea and recovery time

[Titanic1912]

I'm not wishing you good luck. I'm going to say, "May God be with you ".

[Anonymous]

I know how you feel. I had to get an OP on my dick... now that shit is very scary. At least with your operation they can't really mess anything up?

[PrincessPie]

Hope all went good for you :)

[JDavid25]

Well, you can do iitttt.. :)..

[bnmcdds]

good luck :)

[Anonymous]

good luck