Emergence Delirium
Have you ever heard of emergence delirium? I had heard about it but never experienced it until Mason had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Emergence delirium is defined as a dissociate state of consciousness that occurs after discontinuation of anaesthesia. It’s characterized by irritation and psychomotor agitation. There is no treatment for it as it is a side effect of anaesthesia, you just need to keep the patient while they are in this state. Although it is distressing to watch, there is no long term consequences to the patient. And let me tell you, it is very distressing to watch!
Brian and I were waiting in the waiting area at BC Children’s Hospital, as we have many times before, waiting for the surgeon to come and let us know how things went. A nurse came down the hall and hurried us toward Mason room in a way that I just knew something was wrong. As we got closer to the room, I could hear Mason screaming. I walked in and he seemed very uncomfortable and thrashing around the bed. This was where we learned all about emergence delirium, which apparently is very common in this type of surgery. The nurses asked me if I wanted to get into bed with Mason to try and calm him down. I quickly hopped into the bed and tried hard to cuddle Mason and calm him down, but there was no calming him. He continued thrashing around and screaming. We tried giving more pain medication through his IV line, but it was no longer in his vein so the pain medication just went all over his hand. Shortly afterward, Mason ripped his IV out completely in all his thrashing which got blood every where. The nurse and I managed to grab Masons hand and were holding it to stop the bleeding and got the IV needle off the bed and discarded. Once stopped I got out of the bed to wash some of the blood off my arms. The nurses padded around the bed and said the best thing to do was to keep Mason safe, and that he wouldn’t remember any of what happened.
For 45 very long minutes, Mason was in a state of emergence delirium. He thrashed around screaming and banging his head against the bed. Once he finally wore out and fell back asleep, I was relieved but nervous about the next time he woke up. With all the screaming and hitting his head I was nervous how much pain he would be in. He was moved from recovery up onto the ward, and he woke up while we were moving him down the hallway, in a completely normal state. We got into his room and he immediately started asking for yogurt and juice. He was back to himself!
It was a crazy thing to experience emergence delirium. I never realized how agitated and dissociated someone can become, and then to wake up with no memory of it and be completely themselves. It was an experience I hope to never encounter again! Have you experienced emergence delirium?
