Peace,

Not only is 12-hour surgery pretty common for this type of procedure, it is necessary for your doctors to accomplish what needs to be done. Remember, you're not even aware of time when it's going on. This probably sounds weird, but having had several surgical procedures over the years, I've found it fairly relaxing once I see the anesthesiologist come in to put me under -- once that IV goes in it's physically impossible to worry.

For most of us who have had major head and neck surgery, seeing it written up on paper ahead of time looked scary. However, when mine was all over, it didn't feel nearly as bad as the description led me to believe. As several of us have said before, your medical team should be helping you to manage your anxiety now, as well as managing any pain after the operation.

You can do this.

Cathy