A Michigan woman said she is still haunted by a frightening incident that occurred during her surgery six years ago.
Kelly Haapala, of Waterford, Mich., and her 3-year-old son, Zach, were involved in a violent car crash. The boy escaped injury, but Haapala's legs and pelvis were broken and her hip shattered, reported WDIV-TV in Detroit.
Haapala was transferred to a hospital in Flint, Mich., for surgery to repair her hip.
"During the surgery, they tell you to count back from 10, and I did all that, remember going under and the next thing I remember, I woke up to very, very bright lights," Haapala said.
Haapala had woken from the anesthesia during her surgery.
"I was very disoriented, couldn't figure out where I was," she said. "I realized I was on my side, and I still kept looking around and I noticed a lot of doctors and nurses ... I started getting very scared, wondering what happened to me."
Haapala said she could see the eyes of her doctors and nurses, but they did not notice hers.
"I kept feeling scraping of the knife. After a while it became ... excruciating," she said.
Haapala said she couldn't move or communicate with the doctors, so she panicked.
"I was trying really hard to scream, to move, to do anything," she said. "I couldn't move. Nobody could hear me scream."
Haapala was conscious, but paralyzed for about 15 minutes.
What she experienced is known as anesthesia awareness. According to studies, about one or two out of 1,000 patients undergoing surgery experience some sort of awareness.
At some point during the surgery, doctors realized Haapala was awake.
"My whole body started flailing. I was screaming," she said. "They were yelling at each other and trying to hold me down so I wouldn't injure myself any further."
Haapala said doctors quickly put her back under, and the next thing she remembered was waking up to her family in the room.
Doctors say anesthesia awareness occurs when anesthesia is too light or when a patient does not respond normally to a drug. Most episodes are minor, but Haapala's case was severe.
"To me, it's much worse trauma than what I went through with the accident," she said. "I've had three hernia operations. I've had my tonsils out. I've had two children, one C-section, one natural birth, and no pain that I've ever been through -- broken bones or anything -- can explain or come close to the pain that I felt that day."
Dr. Dominick Lago Jr., an anesthesiologist at Providence Hospital in Southfield, Mich., said that anesthesia awareness is rare, but it can happen.
"We monitor vital signs -- heart rate, blood pressure -- which are indicators that a patient may have a lighter amount of anesthetic than is required," Lago said.
Awareness is more common in patients with traumatic injuries, cardiac problems, unstable blood pressure and during C-sections, the television station reported.
"You're trying to balance by keeping them asleep, unconscious, but along with maintaining a blood pressure that is viable with life," Lago said.
Some hospitals use a device called a BIS Monitor to measure patient's brain waves during surgery. Most anesthesiologists aren't convinced that the monitor is necessary, but Haapala said she would like to see BIS monitors in every operating room to make sure no one else has to go through her experience.
Haapala decided not to sue the Flint hospital or her anesthesiologist, but she said she hoped that by sharing her story, it would raise awareness about the problem and the need for closer monitoring.
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