For those patients who are required to stay as inpatients after their operation, your course in hospital will be characterized typically by a regimen similar to the following:
You can expect to have intravenous lines, and potentially drains and a foley catheter inside you when you awake from anesthesia and these will be assessed daily for removal.
When a foley catheter is removed from the bladder via the urethra, this is called a “trial of voiding”. The nurse will remove the catheter and you will be encouraged to drink fluids. Usually you will urinate on your own within 4-6 hours, sometimes with a bit more effort than before the operation, but this usually settles down and is from generalized swelling and the drugs in your system. If you can’t pee but feel like you really need to, the nurse will put the catheter back in and let the bladder rest and try again the next day.
Each day, the surgical team and discharge planning nursing teams will review your progress and plan a potential discharge date. You should not feel that this represents an attitude towards to “kicking you out” of the Hospital, rather it is based on the experience of many previous patients who have had similar procedures and follow a similar expected course. Should you not meet the recovery milestones set for you, not to worry; your continued care is of the utmost importance to us and we will modify the discharge plan as required.
When you are ready to be discharged, your nurse will review your discharge medications and followup plan with you as well as note the emergency contacts should you require, and you will check out of the ward to be transported home to continue your recovery.
