Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 5/10/2010

Question
I have undergone two surgeries one in 2004 and one in 2009, I have had several others.  These two in particular caused great concern with me with the anesthesia. Both of these surgeries caused concern  because I almost didn't wake up.  In 2009 the most recent I had a partial hysterectomy.  While in the recovery room my pulse ox was extremely low, I cannot recall the number and my blood pressure was around 76/50 or so....they had a call in to the cardiologist and would not administer any pain meds becaue they were scared I would not make it.  Should i find out what type of anesthesia I received as to avoid this type again?  
I want to obtain my medical records to see if each surgery I had the same one.

Answer
I would tend to doubt it was related to the anesthesia but more likely related to the surgery. If you had a reaction to the anesthesia, it would have manifested in the OR not PACU. It certainly wouldn't hurt to get a copy of your anesthetic record to give to the next anesthesiologist who works on you but I don't think this is an anesthetic related problem.

Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galvesotn