For M1-your thoughts on twilight anesthesia

Quilting brings calm

Putting this in the spouse forum where M1 is more likely to see it.

M1- I’d like your thoughts on twilight anesthesia and it’s affect on dementia. I know general anesthesia has a detrimental affect.

My step-dad has a corneal abrasion or ulcer ( optometrist said ulcer, opthalmologist said abrasion). It’s due to entropion ( lower eyelid turns inward, eyelashes rub against eye… irritation, patient rubs eyes, etc). Doctor put stitches in the eyelid today as a temporary fix ( local anesthesia), but the permanent fix involves a surgery. Doctor said he’d prefer to use twilight anesthesia over local as there will be incisions etc. it sounds like it’s not really a deep anesthesia - more like aware, but doesn’t care type thing.

Honestly, I’m going to go with what the doctor recommends (dad wouldn’t settle for anything else anyway) but I’d like to know ahead of time what the after affects might be. Step-dad has been diagnosed by the 2.5 hour neuropsych testing with stage 4, but his symptoms are more paranoia, anger, apathy etc than what most people think of as stage 4. Most people wouldn’t believe me if I told them his diagnosis.

M1

QBC, i doubt if anyone can give you any accurate predictions because it just hasn't been studied. I think you're right to just go with the doctor's best recommendation and hope for the best. Entropion is a very uncomfortable condition so I hope it will give him some relief.

Quilting brings calm

Thank you, M1. I think Dad will be more comfortable during the procedure with the twilight anesthesia. Less likely to try to move etc. I’m sure that’s why the doctor is recommending that type. Today’s stitches are supposed to give him some relief while the abrasion/ulcer heals

If anyone else has any personal experience with this particular surgery, I’d be interested in hearing how you/your loved one did during it and how long before the eye was back to normal

Denise1847

Hi Quilting brings calm,

My husband had twilight anesthesia 3 times during 2021 for retina surgery. He came through it just fine.

Then he had total knee replacement in 2022 with twilight. He was really out of it for 2 days. He tried to pull out his IVs, get out of bed many times and hallucinated. I suspect the anesthesia was deeper or maybe because his disease had advanced further. Also, he was in the hospital, a foreign place, and that may have disoriented him.

I wish you luck. Let us know how it goes.

ButterflyWings

Denise - we do know hospital delirium is a real thing. On top of everything else (dementia, additional meds) it is no wonder it sends some of our LO off the rails. Did for my DH and we hope to avoid any need for ER or hospitalization for the rest of his life.

QBC - that sounds uncomfortable to say the least. I can't imagine having my eyelid sutured shut either, but it sounds like all is going well so far. You are such an amazing daughter, step, and overall caregiver!

JJ401

Husband had twilight anesthesia yesterday for cataract surgery. He was groggy somewhat longer than I would have expected, but this morning seems back to baseline.

I had a corneal abrasion last year. I say go for the permanent fix. Mine was very painful.

Quilting brings calm

BW - eyelid was not suture closed. The stitches were out in to direct the eyelid to turn in the normal direction rather than back towards the eye. Basically, he has saggy eyelids and the extra skin etc is allowing the eyelid to lay incorrectly. It took only a few minutes and he had a local. Thank you for the kind words.

JJ-Thank you for telling me about your spouse’s experience with twilight. He’s definitely getting the surgery as long as he passes the pre op checkup. I just wanted a heads up on how the twilight sleep might affect him afterwards