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What to Expect After Surgery

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What to Expect In the Recovery Room

In the recovery room, you will be watched closely and cared for until the effects of your anesthesia have worn off. Most likely this is where you will wake up after your surgery. When you awake, you may find that your vision is blurry. This is caused by the medicine used to protect your eyes during surgery. The blurriness will go away in a short time.

You may also

  • receive extra oxygen through a thin tube (nasal cannula) that passes into your nose.
  • have a Foley catheter to drain your urine into a collection bag.
  • have a Jackson-Pratt (JP) drain to drain excess fluid from your body.
  • have special stockings called Sequential Compression Devices (SCDs) that intermittently squeeze your legs to help prevent blood clots and assist your circulation.
  • have an IV in place. Let your nurse know if you notice any swelling, redness, or irritation at your IV site.
  • have a dressing over your incision.
  • have a nasogastric (NG) tube in your nose to help prevent bowel complications while you recover. The NG tube will be removed when your bowel function returns.

What to Expect Back in Your Hospital Room

When you are stable, you will be brought to the primary nursing unit for urology. The nurses on this unit are trained to care for patients who have had urological procedures.

  • Your room will be ready for your arrival after surgery. There will be a bed, a small cabinet, a closet, and a bathroom available for you.
  • Your nurse will tell you about the hospital routine and check your temperature, pulse, and blood pressure frequently.
  • You will still be wearing Sequential Compression Device Stockings that will intermittently squeeze your legs to help prevent blood clots and generally aid with your circulation. These will be removed when you are ready to get up and move around.
  • To help you recover quickly, and to prevent complications such as blood clots, the nurses will help you get out of bed the evening of your surgery. The morning after your operation, they will help you take walks down the hall until you can manage on your own.
  • You will be asked to begin breathing exercises using an incentive spirometer to help you prevent pneumonia and other respiratory complications. Your nurse will review the instructions for using the spirometer and ask you to perform the breathing exercises every hour while you are awake. You will begin to move from a liquid diet to more substantial foods as you recover. This most likely will take several days.

How to Manage Your Pain

  • You can have medicine that will help relieve or decrease your pain so that you can move around more easily and recover faster.
  • Let your nurses know if you are feeling pain or if the medication given to you is helping (or not helping) the pain. It is important for them to know if you are having any other reaction to the medication in addition to pain relief. Many pain medicines are available, and this information will help your doctor prescribe the best one for you.

What You Can Eat or Drink

You will begin to move from a liquid diet to more substantial foods as you adjust. This may take a couple days.

Tell Your Nurse

Tell your nurse if you experience:

  • pain
  • nausea
  • difficulty breathing
  • chills
  • fever
  • pain, redness, or puffiness at your IV site