This is my very first ever surgery. I am so scared of dying during surgery. Does anyone else have this terrible fear that you won’t wake up?

Surgery is always scary especially being your first one, but you will have so many medical professionals looking after your every breathe to make sure you are ok! I was more afraid of dying unexpectedly from a medical complication from being obese then I was from the surgery. You will do great and it will be over before you know it. Surgery anesthesia is the best nap ever haha! Good luck!

being nervous before surgeries is pretty common - and - you won't die. RNY has a 0.3% mortality rate - VSG is even lower (don't remember that one right off hand since I had the RNY). So you will have at least a 99.7% chance of making it through just fine. And you will. Those are outstanding odds -- better than hip surgeries, which they do all the time.

weight loss surgeries have become very routine and are much safer than they were 20 or 30 years ago. You'll be fine!

Edited November 25, 20214 yr by catwoman7

I'm definitely terrified. Not so much of the surgery itself, moreso a complication afterwards. I know they are rare, but they do happen. I'm so afraid I'll have lifelong complications. I think it's normal, but It's hard to deal with when you have to wait so long to have surgery.

I've never been under anesthesia and that has me scared more than the actual surgery. I keep imagining that moment of counting backwards then the next thing I know, I'm in recovery. I think everyone is scared to some extent, especially if it's your first surgery. But just have to put brains over emotion - I'm far more likely to keel over from being obese than I am from this surgery.

It's totally normal to feel that way for a first surgery. I know when I had my first surgery at 24 I was scared of the same thing. The second time I had surgery though I was 29 and I wasn't scared at all (but that was because I was desperate at that point. I had brain surgery due to my Trigeminal Neuralgia and surgery was my last hope to get rid of the unending chronic debilitating pain I'd been in for 10 months non-stop). My WLS was my third and most recent surgery and I was 32 and after going through what I already had with my TN and the brain surgery... I wasn't scared because I pretty much knew what to expect and I figured it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as waking up from brain surgery (my head HURT so bad after the brain surgery and I was in and out of it, mostly out of it, for the first three or four days and sooooo nauseous) so I figured it wasn't anything to worry about, so while I wasn't scared of the surgery itself, I was nervous about if I'd be able to be up and moving around as soon as they wanted me to (I was sore yes, but they were happy that I was up and walking like I was supposed to when I was supposed to and even did more laps then they had asked).

So don't feel bad about being scared. It's 100% normal to feel that way! Just try to think about your reasons for doing the surgery in the first place and it may help with your nerves a little bit.

It definitely is normal to feel that way, I had my first surgery honestly, this year. I was having pain from gallstones so my surgeon decided it's best to remove my gallbladder before I have the gastric sleeve done so it was done a month before my gastric sleeve. I was extremely terrified of being put to sleep because my family has lost someone to complications in the past so that was on my mind, but when I was finally there and being prepared my mind was a blank slate. The last thing I wanted was my pressure to rise because I'm prone to panic attacks too, and that would be the thing that could cause complications.

What helped me was to focus on things I want to do in the future, just happy thoughts. Another thing that helped was because my plan requires a bariatric group meeting prior, I voiced my concern about being put to sleep there and there was this one woman that was like "it's the best sleep I ever had". Bearing that in mind, I was like "I'm just going to have an awesome nap" when I was walking into the operating room. They didn't even tell me to count backwards, all I heard was the IV might make me feel cold and the anesthesiologist telling me to think happy thoughts... then the next thing was I was waking up in recovery. You don't even realize you went to sleep it seems.

I'm so stressed out, I'm almost thinking that's the best outcome-hah! We have no control except to tell them no surgery. Very scary stuff.

Yes definitely it is indeed very terrifying. I am not really scared of dying per se, but more scared for my family and how they would manage if something goes wrong.

Though worst case scenario is death but then again when I think about it as an obese person who has struggled with her weight half of her life and the fact that I haven't even *lived* my life to the fullest till now, so what's the most I can lose from the surgery anyways. All I have is to gain from this little risk. With that mindset, I am going all in and hoping for the best.

Though I have written emails to my family and friends and have send them as *scheduled email* 1 week after the surgery date just in case I may not have the opportunity to do so. Just so they know how much I have love them and that there has been 0 regrets from my end for opting for this surgery. It may lessen their guilt in case something unfortunate happens.

Besides that, I will go in with an optimist mindset and will hope to concur this little battle.

That's a great idea with the scheduled emails. I wish my server had that option!

You'll conquer the battle and win the war.

3 hours ago, LadyVan said:

That's a great idea with the scheduled emails. I wish my server had that option!

You'll conquer the battle and win the war.

Server as in?! Gmail definitely has that option. I would assume other email portals should too.

Me! Terrified here. I’ve only started this surgical journey and likely won’t have the procedure till March, but having never had surgery before, I’m worried about being under. Reading all y’all’s good vibes and advice has been very helpful.

I had all the same worries. Think of it this way, what are your chances of dying early if you don’t do it?

It's totally normal to be scared (and I've been under anesthesia dozens of times in my life), but know that you will come through this fine and the first few days after surgery are truly the hardest part and they're totally doable.

Incidentally, the ASMBS (check for bias, obviously) says the 30-day mortality rate for VSG is 0.08 percent.