Contrary to popular belief, waking up from general anesthesia is not always unpleasant. In fact, it is not too different from waking up from any deep sleep. You will usually wake up in a recovery room, although you may not remember the experience.
Depending on the operation, you may find upon awakening that one or more intravenous lines are running into your body. You may also find drains in some body cavities. You may feel some discomfort and not be able to eat for a few days. The surgeon will have covered all these points with you before the operation.
Pain Control Most patients worry about pain after the operation, but there are several relatively easy ways to control it. If low-level pain relievers (analgesics) like aspirin and codeine won't do the job, pain can be controlled by the injection of stronger analgesics, the most potent being narcotics like morphine. These drugs provide relief from pain for three to four hours and should be readministered by the clock or as soon as the pain reappears.
Traditionally, patients have had to call a nurse each time they felt the need for an injection, but patients themselves can now activate devices that deliver the analgesic. The "patient controlled analgesia" (PCA) device has a compartment for the morphine, a trigger button to press and a small computer that delivers a fixed dose of the drug. There is also a lock-out period set by the doctor and nurse—usually at 20 minutes—to make sure the drug isn't administered too often. The main advantage of this form of pain control is that the pain can be relieved as soon as it is felt, which usually means that smaller amounts of medication are needed.
