Community post

Anesthesia

I had knee surgery today, and as I was waking up from anesthesia, I heard a baby crying. I was convinced I had just given birth to that baby.

I asked the nurse, “Did I have a baby?”

She said, “No, honey, you had knee surgery.”

But I could not get my mind off the baby that I could hear crying. I was hyper-convinced I had given birth, and this crying baby was mine.

I dozed back off, and when I woke up I asked the nurse could I please see my baby now. She gently reminded me that I had not had a baby.

Then my mind was trying to figure it out. I told myself there was no way I had a baby because my pelvic and vaginal areas weren’t sore or in pain. I was very confused since my mind was convinced I had a baby. I dozed off again.

Then I woke up and started telling the nurse how gorgeous the surgeon was. I was gushing about his attractiveness, and she was chuckling. I told her I loved her and she really mattered to me. I felt like I could feel all the love in the Universes. I asked her did she know if I had a baby. She told me no, I had not. I dozed off again.

When I woke back up my friend was in the recovery room with me, and I was trying to get her attention away from the nurse, who was talking with her, to whisper to my friend that I had a baby, and I wanted her to go get my baby.

I dozed back off again but still could hear them both talking. The nurse was giving my friend post-surgery medication instructions for me.

Then, my mood suddenly shifted, and I got irritated because I thought it was rude they were talking about me and I was sitting right there.

So, I said very firmly, “I CAN HEAR YOU!” 😅

The nurse said softly, “That’s good! You’re waking up!” 🤓

After she said that, I started waking up more and more, eating applesauce and drinking some ginger ale. I finally realized I didn’t have a baby and understood I’d had knee surgery.

Disinhibition after surgery is both bizarre and fascinating. The mind can do some wild stuff.

Now that I’ve slept off that medicine, and I am more cognitive, my brain is deeply contemplating how absolutely convinced I was that I’d had a baby. There was a part of my brain that knew it was ridiculous, that I couldn’t possibly have had a baby. Yet, my brain could not pull itself away from the surety that I did have a baby.

I am curious what process is going on in the brain when this is happening. Where is the brain pulling the thoughts from? 🤔🤯

I’d love to discuss this with anyone who has had this experience or who is simply as curious about the mind as I am. 🙌🏻

Vennie Kocsis

Replies (13)

Sending good juju to you as you recover from your knee surgery. ✨

I found your profile in a wicked roundabout way, which hurt my brain when I realized you'd actually discovered Hive via a Twitter Hive Spaces chat I was part of, but I somehow missed the memo! However, now that I've found you, I submitted your content for verification through Hive Watchers. They'll probably drop a comment in the next few days-ish, so that curators will know you're not a scammer or bot or something (sadly that's a thing that happens here far too frequently).

As to the curious way our brains work, I have a story that's always confounded me, but it doesn't involve surgery. Or even my brain. And it's a bit of a heart-punching topic.

When I was pregnant with our eldest daughter, I had two dear college friends who were also starting families - one (B) had a daughter not too long before I discovered I was pregnant. The other (M) found she was pregnant not too long after, but was already about five months along and for a myriad of reasons, was deemed a high risk pregnancy.

I was at about five or six months when M lost her daughter during horrible delivery circumstances (there was an eventual lawsuit). A couple years later, she gave birth to twin girls, and the three of us regularly got together with our kids (B went on to have a son, I then had a son and another daughter).

It was at one of our gatherings that my eldest made the comment something along the lines of how sad it was that M's first daughter had passed, but she was glad she was able to say goodbye to her before she did. When we pointed out that she hadn't been born yet, she insisted it happened, and described how B's daughter was there, sitting next to her, and M placed the baby in her lap. She said she was holding her tiny hand, and talked to her for a few before M picked her back up. She wasn't sure what happened next, other than everyone crying.

We've talked about it many times over the years (my eldest is now 28) and she's just as insistent now that it happened as she was when she was little. She says she has a very clear memory of that moment, and even though she understands it could not have happened, she still swears it did. And even after all these years, just typing about it gives me goosebumps.

The brain is indeed a curious creature.

And with all that - a much belated welcome to Hive. 😊