“Are you awake for foot surgery?”
I am a 42 year old female. I need to have a foot surgery. Are you awake for foot surgery?
12 Answers
You are asleep, either breathing on your own or a tube is placed to help you breathe but you are not awake unless you specifically ask for that, which I do not recommend.
It depends. You have to be at least sedated.
There are dozens if not hundreds of different foot surgeries so this is very hard to answer. In general it can be done under general anesthesia (fully asleep), regional anesthesia, where you get a shot in the back and your lower extremities will be numb and you will not feel anything in the legs, or sometimes even local anesthesia where you get injections around the area of the surgery to numb up the area. Which are actual possibilities for your type of surgery depends on the surgery and you did not provide that information.
You can request regional nerve block. However, since the ankle arthroscopy is usually a quick and small procedure, I recommend my patients go under general anesthesia. The regional nerve block is more painful than the ankle arethroscopy.
Depends upon what you’re having done. Some of the procedures can be done under local or block with sedation.
You can be asleep under general anesthesia or choose to have a regional block where the anesthesiologist numbs the nerves to the foot. The choice of which kind of anesthesia is decided between your surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and you before the surgery is performed.
That is up to you and your surgeon. Ask questions. Most people are sleepy and remember a little because they get a spinal anesthetic. Some want to be very awake like I did for my knee surgery.
It depends on your insurance, your surgeon, and your anesthesiologist. It also depends on your comorbidities and other health issues. You will need to have clearance for surgery, and you can discuss anesthesia with your surgeon and your anesthesiologist prior to surgery.
It depends on the type of foot surgery. Most foot surgeries you receive MAC (monitored anesthesia care) where an IV is placed in your arm and you undergo a twilight sedation. Other forms of anesthesia will include general surgery where you a put asleep.
You do not have to be. The decision is usually made by patient and doctor consensus.
Usually patients are not awake during foot surgery, unless it’s a minor procedure in the office. Most of the time foot surgery in the hospital or surgical center setting is performed under conscious sedation, where you are given relaxing and sleep medication through an IV. In this scenario it’s as if you’re taking a nap during the procedure, and you will not remember any discomfort you may have while the doctor administers numbing medication to the surgical area. If the procedure is longer or complicated, general anesthesia may be used, where you also take a nap and will not remember any discomfort, but a machine will help you breath. This is a deeper level of anesthesia. A third form is spinal anesthesia, where the anesthesiologist will give you an injection in your spine, numbing your legs. Here you will be more awake, but will not feel your legs or any discomfort in the area during the procedure and for a period of time afterwards. You should discuss all these options with your surgeon and anesthesiologists to determine which form of anesthesia is best for you.
Some foot surgery can be done under local anesthesia only, meaning the area to be worked on is injected with local anesthetic and the patient is awake. I recommend discussing with a foot and ankle surgeon (podiatrist) to determine the best course of action in your case
