 truly powerful of an experience this was, and the fact that it was truly life-changing. Doctors say the anesthesia wasn't all that different from ones given during a C-section. Anesthesiologist Dr. Vicente Garcia-Tomas. Doing the spinal for the awake kidney transplantation was easier than many C-sections. The procedure was incredibly simple and uneventful, but it allows the patient to be awake for the surgery.