After Surgery
After the operation, you will be taken to the recovery room where you will be monitored until you wake up from the anesthetic. A nurse will talk to you to help you regain consciousness. You will be kept under close observation before you wake up. Your pulse, respiration, and blood pressure will be recorded at frequent intervals. The nurse will ask if you have any pain and, if necessary, he or she will give you an injection of a painkilling drug. You will be kept in the recovery room until you are fully awake and your pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and breathing are all stable. Some people feel nauseated after the anesthetic and may even vomit, although this is increasingly uncommon with modern anesthetics. The nurse will watch for any indications of potentially serious postoperative complications, such as shock, bleeding, or discharge from the incision and amount of drainage.
You will be taken from the recovery room to the intensive care unit or your room. Again, a nurse will attend you during the journey. If you are taken to the intensive care unit, it does not indicate that something has gone wrong during the operation or that you are in any danger. After certain operations, careful monitoring is essential. This is easier to do in the intensive care unit with special equipment than in a room on a regular nursing unit.
After a major abdominal operation, the patient is usually given an intravenous infusion of fluids or blood into the vein of one arm. A nasogastric tube may have been passed through one nostril and into the stomach to keep it empty of fluid. In addition to a dressing over the wound, a drain (frequently a tube) may extend from it to a suction bottle. This prevents the collection of blood or serous fluid in the operation area. In patients who have gynecological or genitourinary operations, a catheter into the bladder is usually left in place. This is connected to a collection bag at the side of the bed.
As soon as the intestine is starting to work again, the patient is allowed to have sips of liquid and the nasogastric tube and intravenous infusion are removed.
