The day of the operation

Before leaving your room, the nurse will check again that you are ready to go to the operating room. You must not wear any jewelry, including body piercing jewelry, glasses, contact lenses, or dentures. You must wear a hospital gown. The nurse asks you to urinate before you leave.

The person accompanying you can stay in your room, but they cannot follow you into the operating room or the recovery room.

The length of operating time varies depending on the type of surgery. Ask the nurse for the estimated time. But let your family know that sometimes the recovery room time is different than stated. This does not mean that you are less well, it just means that for some reason you cannot be transferred to your room immediately.

In the recovery room, your blood pressure, pulse, breathing, bandage, and fluid in your arm are checked frequently.

When you return to your room, these same monitoring parameters are checked by the nurse, but less frequently, unless your condition requires it.

It is very likely that you have had a bladder or suprapubic catheter. This urinary catheter is removed before you leave the hospital or kept longer depending on the surgery performed. For now, this catheter allows you to have no effort to urinate.

Pain is a normal phenomenon after an operation and it manifests itself in each individual to varying degrees. However, it is imperative that you tell us about the pain you are feeling, so that we can provide adequate relief.

Usually, you are asked to rate this pain using a scale that goes from 0 to 10, zero being no pain and ten being unbearable pain. This assessment makes it possible to intervene early and in a satisfactory manner in the face of pain. We want you to conserve your energy to heal, not to fight pain.

For some, a tube going into the stomach called levin has been installed. This tube prevents vomiting after the operation. It is usually removed as soon as the person has gas.

The surgeon has sometimes installed drainage tubes from the wound to remove excess fluids. These tubes are harmless and you can even move around easily.

The nurse encourages you to do your breathing exercises for five minutes every hour while you are awake.