In this blog, I would like to tell my own story of two surgeries that I did, a year and a half apart, to replace my two hip joints. These surgeries became a pivot point in my recovery from some surgeries that I had undergone as a child which left a long-term imprint of terror in my body. I will go through the checklist of pre-surgical requests that I published on my bonus page and speak to how I worked with each one. If you have not accessed this page you can do so by signing up for my mailing list at the end of this post.
Choice of a Surgeon
I am well aware that not everybody has their choice of a surgeon. In an emergency situation or when your only options are what the public health system or what your insurance company offers, then you must work with what you have. In the case that I describe, I had the privilege of choice and I speak here of how I used it.
I interviewed a number of surgeons. To each one, I took my list of requests. I asked questions and listened for the answers. I listened to what was between the lines–attitude, respect, honesty. And most of all, I listened to my body and to my gut feelings. I chose Dr. Mauro Meyer in Porto Alegre Brazil. He answered all my questions, clearly and respectfully. He was willing to work with my requests, and he was also honest about which requests were outside of his scope of power to grant. I had asked around and had received his name from two different sources. Dr Mauro is a specialist in hip and knee surgeries and has many years of practice. The hip surgery that he does is minimally invasive. He cuts no muscles but makes an incision between the muscles and does everything through that incision. He emanates a sense of quiet confidence, and I felt instinctively that I could trust him.
Furthermore, when I received some sessions of Somatic Experiencing® in the months following the surgery, it became very clear to me that the energetic imprint that he left in my body was one of profound love and respect. And this may ultimately be one of the big questions to ask oneself when choosing a surgeon.” How do I feel about this person’s energetic signature? Do I want it impressed in my tissues?”
Transitions and Accompaniement
My Anthroposophic Doctor, Dr. Waldyvia de Paula Machado, who is also my friend and colleague at the clinic that we have both worked at for over 20 years, was willing to come with me to the surgery and to be there while I was receiving the operation. This would certainly take care of the need to have a trusted person there, reassuring me, as I was falling asleep. I also wished to have my husband (who, like myself, is a Somatic Experiencing® teacher, and who has a very calm presence) with me in the recovery room, when I first came out from the anesthesia. Dr. Mauro told me, quite honestly that since the operating room was his domain, he could allow Dr. Waldyvia to accompany me there. But the recovery room was not a place where he held sway. He told me that he could not guarantee my husband’s presence there. He did however suggest that I speak with the staff in the recovery room.
So began a journey that took me several weeks. I called the hospital again and again, and each time it seemed like I took one more step down the path to getting the contact of the person who could authorize my husband’s presence in the recovery room. It was not a simple task. I would call the hospital and explain to one person, and then another, why it was that I wanted my husband, who is a trauma therapist, who has a soothing, calming presence, with me in the recovery room. I explained that it would be better for my post-operative recovery and better for the hospital as well, because I would feel safer and more secure. And then I would get given another telephone number and another person to contact. Eventually, I did get the number for the recovery room and the name of the nurse that would be in charge on the day of my surgery. I finally succeeded in speaking to her a few days before my surgery and she gave permission for not only my husband, but Dr. Waldyvia as well, to be with me.
The result was that on the day of the surgery, the last thing I heard as I was falling asleep, was Dr. Waldyvia’s voice saying “You can just relax and let go”. And then, what seemed only a moment later, I found myself being wheeled through the corridor on a trolley. The surgery was already over, and my husband was walking beside me holding my hand. I felt his love and protection surrounding me like a warm cloak. The 5 hours that I spent in the recovery room went by quickly and I felt safe and loved with both of them there. Dr. Waldyvia brought some lavender oil and massaged my belly with it, which further helped me to relax.
This story goes even farther, however. When I returned a year and a half later to have the second hip replaced, Dr. Mauro informed me that since my surgery, the Recovery Room had changed their policy. They now not only allowed but encouraged a friend or family member to be in the recovery room with the patient. My persistence paid off, not only for me, but for others as well!
Conversation during the Surgery
When I spoke to Dr. Mauro about the possibility of having only neutral conversation while he was operating, he said to me “I have no problem with that. I like to be very concentrated while I am working”. This was one of the factors that lead me to choose him as my surgeon.
This request must, however, go not only to the surgeon but to the rest of the team, and once again, this can be complex. If the surgeon has their own team that they work with, as was Dr. Mauro’s case, then there is more likely to be agreement between the group of people who will be in the operating room. Before the surgery started, I spoke with each member of the team and from each one, I received the same answer. “We like to stay very concentrated while we are working, and we do not have conversations about anything else than what we are doing”
While I was asleep, Dr. Waldyvia also used my altered state to make positive suggestions about my health to my subconscious mind. I will write more about this practice in a separate blog.
Preemptive Analgesia and Choice of Sedative
I did my surgeries with a spinal block and Propofol as the sedative. The spinal block took care of numbing sensation at the site of the incision and the experience of Propofol was like falling into a gentle sleep and awakening easily.
Post-Surgical Trembling and Shaking
As a long term practitioner and teacher of Somatic Experiencing® and someone who has helped many of my clients to renegotiate surgical experiences, no one had to convince me of the value of allowing the discharge of the shaking and trembling post-surgically. Not only did the trembling not surprise or frighten me, I welcomed it and it moved through my body in waves. I would tremble and then I could feel the trembling and the discharge settling. Then after awhile, another wave would move through. I stayed with this and by the time I left the recovery room, I felt like I had managed to discharge a significant portion of the stress of the surgery.
My Post-Op Experience
Naturally, no one feels like going partying when they have just had a major surgery. There is pain, and one feels like one has been run over by a truck. The aftermath of the anesthesia, is like a monumental hangover and the body complains mightily about the inescapable attack that it suffered on the operating table.
As a general rule, it is a good idea to take enough pain medication after a surgery to stay comfortable. This avoids setting up circuits of chronic pain that can get started by persistent post-operative pain that is not medicated. I obediently took the pain medication that Dr. Mauro prescribed. But I didn’t need to take it very long. Within a few days, although it was not all that comfortable to move around, I no longer felt that i needed the medication. Dr. Mauro’s minimally invasive surgery involves a one-night stay in the hospital. The next day, you take a walk down the hall and he sends you home and tells you to walk as much as possible, because the strengthening of the muscles is what keeps the prosthesis stable. Two days after the surgery, I was already going up and down stairs (slowly, to be sure…)
But maybe most important of all was my feeling of empowerment. I emerged from these experiences feeling victorious and potent–the owner of my own body and my destiny. I felt (and feel) able to engage with the medical profession to communicate and be heard. And my body’s capacity to heal has never been so clear to me.
© Lael Katharine Keen 2024