I Am A Anesthesia Awareness Survivor

My experience happened in 2008 during gallbladder surgery. I was not aware at the time of surgery that I had this issue. I went into surgery and went to sleep for a short time when I became aware I could tell I had a breathing tube in I heard the anesthesia Dr. talking to someone else above my head about the dosages of the different drugs. Then the surgeon began his incisions for the laproscopic procedure I felt the first cut down by the belly button at that point I was aware I could not scream because of the breathing tube, all I could think of is I have got to move some way I was fighting for all I had in my mind to move as they proceeded with the second incision up by the rib cage, there is no words to describe the pain. They then placed a tube in each incision all this time I was fighting to move. I was told by the anesthesiologist that my blood pressure went way out of control. The surgeon then started to do the third incision me still fighting to move. I remember the sticking in of the scalpel for that incision but, at that point they realized something was wrong and gave me the max amount of drugs with out killing me to put me under. I was unstable the whole surgery with the heart rate so high and at the end of the surgery they were unable to move me to recovery for 4 hrs because of my heart rate. Then after being moved to recovery I was there 2 more hours I remember the anesthesiologist coming in there and telling me I was going to be ok. I was then moved to second recovery a hour later. The nurses first question  to me was what is your pain level I said it would be much lower if I had not been awake during that surgery. She ask me again what I said and I repeated it. She left the room instantly and got the anesthesiologist and her boss. I had to go through every detail I remembered and told them the order of the incision and pain. They then informed me I was definitely awake. That I had anesthesia awareness and that only less than 1% of the people have this issue. What was nice was that the anesthesiologist's boss had the same problem and had a similar experience. (What is the chances of that). They stayed with me for a long time explaining everything and asking many questions. Her boss then ask me my pain level and I lied and said I was ok. She said,  I know that is not true because I have been there and your in pain so what is your level. She refused to leave the room till I was comfortable. They then gave me there phone numbers work and personal and offered me counseling if I needed it. They also stayed in contact many weeks after this to check up on me.
Just this last week, Feb. 17,2012 I was faced with being put under again for a lumpectomy on my breast. It was the same surgeon and I contacted the same anesthesiologist to see if she was available and unfortunately she was not. She took care of me though she appointed her personal anesthesiologist that she has had for surgeries. They had a special meeting at the hospital to discuss my case in detail the day before my surgery and she notified me of this meeting. Also, the nursing staff had a special meeting on my case before I got there. It was nice that they did this that way I did not have to go through all the details with all 7 nurses they informed me when they entered the room they knew my case. I wear a medical bracelet with this on it I refused to take it off . They let me wear it into the O.R. but removed it during surgery. The surgery was a success I had no anesthesia awareness. I was still in recovery 7 hours because of the amount of drugs I had to take. I was not thinking clearly for about 3-4 days. The amount of drugs they told me it takes to keep me under a short time most people would sleep for days I only sleep 7 hrs. Now recovering at home doing well.