Afterwards you’ll be taken to the recovery room.
Nurses will closely monitor your breathing and vital signs. You may have a mask or small tubes in your nostrils giving you extra oxygen and you’ll have a urinary catheter. You’ll also have an IV line for delivering analgesics and fluids. If you’ve had open surgery, you’ll have a drain in place to remove fluid or blood from around your prostate.
After your surgery, you may have a continuous flow of water slowly infused into your bladder through your catheter to remove any blood clots that might block the catheter and cause pain from a full bladder. This will run for a few hours or up to 2 days depending on the type of procedure you had. It’s normally left in until your urine is relatively clear of blood (or a light rosé colour).
You’ll most likely be fitted with special compression stockings to wear on both legs. You may also be given calf pumps which inflate intermittently. The stockings and calf pumps are designed to help reduce your risk of deep vein thrombosis. After some procedures, you may also be given blood thinning drugs to further reduce your risk. The nurses may recommend that you take 5–10 deep breaths and hold each one, once every hour.
They may not let you eat for at least 4 hours after general anaesthesia, but this can vary. If you had spinal or local anaesthesia, you could eat and drink sooner.
Pain is different for each person. Your anaesthetist will prescribe pain medication. If you have a sore throat from the tube used during anaesthesia, you can suck throat lozenges.
If you’re going home with a urinary catheter in place, a nurse will come and explain how to manage the catheter, how long you’ll need it for and what to do if you have problems.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Information is provided by HCF in good faith for the convenience of members. It is not an endorsement or recommendation of any form of treatment nor is it a substitute for medical advice, and you should rely on the advice of your treating doctors in relation to all matters concerning your health. Every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information, however HCF takes no responsibility for any injury, loss, damage or other consequences of the use of this information.