Elbow arthroscopy - bruised throat & foot injections

[ikarl]

I'm hoping someone may be able answer a question I have about an operation I had thursday. Sorry for the long story.

I had an op to shave some bone from my elbow (spur)..the dr said the op would only take an hour at most, however I think it took a while longer.

I went in for my general anaesthetic at 2pm but didn't come round till 6.30. Not sure if that's normal.

When I came round I was asked how much pain I was in, I described it as level 3 (of 4) - I was given morphine. I think 5 shots over an hour.

I then awoke in day surgery recovery at about 8pm and was told they were arranging a bed for me to stay the night. I had some biscuits and some tea and I was able to keep it down so they allowed me home at about 9.30

I've noticed that my throat has been cut and feels very bruised. I'm assuming they had to put a pipe down my throat. Is that normal? Also I have 4 injection points on my right foot and it still feels a little numb, can you tell me what that is please?

Thanks

[ikarl]

Anybody?
I can't find anything online..

[dgb00]

Yes a tube in your throat or a tube at the back of your throat is normal. The sore throat feeling normally passes in a few days.

You may only remember from 6.30 on the op day but you may well have bee awake for some time before that. Memory is one of the last things to start working again.

The four injections Im not sure about. Were they taking a bone graft from your foot? You can do an ankle block (injection of local anaesthetic to block nerves) in your ankle/foot which have generally four injection points.

Hope it settles soon!

[ikarl]

Thanks for the reply!

No,no bone graft...just 4 injections in my foot and it's still swollen/bruised. Assumed it might have been a muscle relaxant or similar

[The_Doc]

ikarl said:

Thanks for the reply!

No,no bone graft...just 4 injections in my foot and it's still swollen/bruised. Assumed it might have been a muscle relaxant or similar

Probably put the drip in your foot (and had four goes putting it in). Are you well proportioned or have very bad veins in your arms/hands?

[The_Doc]

and if you went to sleep (general anesthetic) you will have had some form of tube in your mouth/throat to breate the volatile anesthetic gases.

Either an LMA or an ET Tube



or



both can give you a slightly sore throat.

to be fair, anaesthetists explain this sort of stuff beforehand when taking consent for the anaesthesia.

[ikarl]

Thanks doc!

The anaesthetist asked me to open wide so she could see the size of my mouth/throat in case she had to put a pipe down there but it was, as she said, unlikely she would have too...the op was only expected to ba less than an hour but the dr decided to remove some bone (spur)

In regard to missing the veins in my foot they'd prob have to be blind, I'm quite lean and it does actually look like they've been right on a vein each time. I'm rarely asked to make a fist so they can find a vein, they naturally sit out

[turbolucie]

You probably had an LMA (laryngeal mask airway, the first picture above). The anaesthetist looks in your throat to get a hint as to how easy you'd be to intubate with an endotracheal tube (the second photo) if the LMA doesn't fit properly or if something went slightly wrong and they needed to change to an endotracheal tube.

Sore throat is very common (probably a majority of patients IME)after either kind of airway. It'll go soon enough.

As for the ankle, no idea. As already suggested, possibly cannula sites, but unlikely.