well, you know, i'm supposed to go in for a little thing up the hospital, and they told me i'd have anaesthetic. which sounded ok by me; it's risky, but i've had two operations before and got konked out for those, alright... now tho, they did a pre-op interview with me on the phone and said that they want to do, what's it called? localized? anaesthetic instead. the procedure, i was told would require me being CONSCIOUS while they put in an IV (i mentioned that needles squeam me, right?) then this thing in my spine making only the parts of me they want numb numb... i'm not too thrilled. in fact? terrified. the whole reason i oked the procedure was i was promised unconsciousness during anything invasive...now it seems like they plan to rescind on that promise.

Can't you tell them you want to be unconcious? Although that does make the proceedure more risky and the recovery time slower. I'd always rather have an epidural (spine numbing parts of your body) then a full anaesthetic- its such a strain for your body. I have only been under general once but I was so sick afterwards its not funny. If you have a needle phobia though, it might be just good to go through the crunch and get it over and done with. I used to be scared of injections, then I went to hospital for my operation and had 15 in 24 hours. Now I couldn't care less about them (which is good since when I had pneumonia, I was the human blood test pin cushion and had an arterial tap- not as much fun as it sounds on the tin).

i did. i really thought they'd got that.

You might try to clarify it with them again and make sure they are very clear on your concerns.

Also, there might be a reason why they want to do local anesthetic. Sometimes, depending on the procedure, it's safer and works more affectively (the procedure) if systemic anesthetic isn't used.

Talk to them and I bet they'll work through it with you.

you don't get to pick a lot of the time. you may just have to suck it up. the risk may outweigh your comfort level.