#All my patients are under the bed full#

When I came out of the anaesthetic I felt absolutely wonderful. I was, when I came out of the anaesthetic, people always say, you know, 'When you come out of the anaesthetic you will feel absolutely awful'. How were you feeling then, when you came round and then for the next, how long were you there in Intensive Care? Was there any family there at the time or.? So you woke up with the tube in your mouth. Some people who'd had heart surgery, though, felt 'wonderful' because they'd been so much weaker before their operations (see ' Reasons for admission: planned admissions'). People who had come round in intensive care after planned surgery knew what had happened, though many felt 'hazy'. I don't know whether I walked or whether I was trolleyed. I cannot remember going from the ICU unit to the trauma ward. Things that you generally do and take for granted to do.

I was, so I understand, I was shaven, hair washed, nails cut and things like that. Like I say I have no recollection of ICU unit apart from people telling me that visitors were plentiful and that obviously if you're unconscious then you're not aware of that. I don't do hospitals at the best of times but for some reason when you're there you know nothing of it. I just wanted to go back to my normal life. I was a smoker prior to going into the hospital and obviously I had to give that up and I'm wondering if that was part of my settling down, if you like, and wanting to get rid of the tubes. I just wanted to rip out all the tubes and go for a walk. I've been told that they kept me sedated because I wouldn't leave the tubes alone. I do not remember my time at all in ICU unit. In fact I don't remember much at all then until almost two, three weeks later. It's not from memory but it just felt right and I have no recollection of the journey. Others had no memories of sedation or of their ICU stay. Some people remembered talking to their families before sedation but nothing else until they came round. It was when I woke up later that I remember different things. But I didn't hear, I didn't understand much else. And apparently, I remember actually hearing her say, 'I've got a new job' and apparently I put my thumb up, so I must have understood something. And she had, I didn't realise it was her at the time, and she'd just got a new job. One thing in particular I remember quite well was the fact that my son's fianc'e came to see me. And I actually do remember some of the things that actually happened.

But apparently during that period of time I did actually make movement and things like that.

#All my patients are under the bed full#

And that was my full memory of the whole thing, waking up. The next thing I remember was waking up in Intensive Care on the Sunday morning, which was seven days later. Once you've had the anaesthetic, that was it. Others recollected snippets of conversations they'd had between being sedated and fully conscious.Īll I can remember was, of that morning of going down for the second operation when they were going to have a look at my stomach, was going down and talking to the anaesthetist about this and he said, 'Oh we'll put a little.' He said, 'You won't be long.' He said, 'It's only a minor, simple operation.' And I don't remember much after that. Some had responded but couldn't remember any of these conversations once they were fully conscious, whether these had been with health professionals, family, friends or colleagues. They'd heard voices but couldn't remember the conversations or the people involved.

Some people had only vague memories whilst under sedation. Nursing and other medical staff usually talk to sedated people and tell them what is happening as they may be able to hear even if they can't respond. Here men and women discuss coming round in ICU. Others were unconscious or sedated for only a few days. Some said they'd been looked after in intensive care for several weeks before they could remember coming round. Some of the people we talked to had been unconscious - one man described it as 'comatose' - for varying lengths of time. These medicines aim to reduce pain and to keep people calm or in a deep sleep so they are more tolerant of the tubes and equipment attached to them. In intensive care people receive many separate medicines, including sedatives and painkillers, which can affect them in different ways. Intensive care: Patients' experiences Coming round and regaining consciousness in ICU

Attitudes to life during and after recovery.

Information for people admitted to ICU for emergency treatment.

Sleep, dreams and hallucinations in ICU.

Coming round and regaining consciousness in ICU.