Went for my Pre op today- 1st I ever heard of a catheter being used

[warrior68 16]

I went for my pre op, and a three hour eating class today, as March 1st approaches I get more and more excited to start my new lifestyle.

I have only one problem with the whole thing, I just found out today that they will be inserting a catheter for my hospital stay! This is not something I signed on for! I was told I would have to talk to the surgeon about it, and believe me I plan on it! I can not think of a single medical reason to catheterize me? Has anyone else been told they have to have this done? Its a good thing they told me today, rather me waking up with tube coming out of me .

I am not nervous about the surgery one bit, I have a great surgeon who I completely trust, however I am terrified of the catheter.

The lady that told was like, oh its no big deal, you'll be out when they put it in anyways. I was like, yeah but are they gonna put me out to remove it?

I am not happy about this at all.

[disp4so 3]

I had one when I woke up, did not know I would have one before hand. It was no biggie though. First time I had to go use the bathroom the nurse took it out. I did not feel a thing. I would not worry too much about it.

Good luck to you

I went for my pre op, and a three hour eating class today, as March 1st approaches I get more and more excited to start my new lifestyle.

I have only one problem with the whole thing, I just found out today that they will be inserting a catheter for my hospital stay! This is not something I signed on for! I was told I would have to talk to the surgeon about it, and believe me I plan on it! I can not think of a single medical reason to catheterize me? Has anyone else been told they have to have this done? Its a good thing they told me today, rather me waking up with tube coming out of me .

I am not nervous about the surgery one bit, I have a great surgeon who I completely trust, however I am terrified of the catheter.

The lady that told was like, oh its no big deal, you'll be out when they put it in anyways. I was like, yeah but are they gonna put me out to remove it?

I am not happy about this at all.

[Rootman 1,101]

My guess is that they are either going to do a spinal block that will paralyze your bladder or using a anesthetic that will paralyze your sphincter. Or it may just be an attempt to comfort you so that you will not have to rise to use the restroom.

I was not catheterized as my surgeon only uses a local on top of the general.

[M2G 1,836]

No catheter here. Def. talk to your surgeon about your concerns.

[Brielle 0]

I'm 19 years old, and was sleeved on 1/26. It was my first major surgery, and the catheter was nothing. I didn't know I would have it until the day of my surgery, but it didn't really scare me. I was completely out when they put it in. When I woke up from surgery, it took me a few hours to even realize I HAD a catheter. As I came to a little more, it started feeling a little uncomfortable, but not necessarily hurting. It's nothing to worry about, really. It's actually VERY convenient, as you don't feel like getting up to go pee right after surgery. It's just to empty your bladder during surgery and when you're in recovery/recovering in your room. With all of the fluids they pump into you, it would be extremely difficult to NOT have a catheter. I'm certainly glad I had mine!

[My Big Day 3/15/2011 4]

I feel for your fear of the catheter! Some people are deathly afraid of this...most males in fact. I am a nurse in surgery and often put catheters in my patients who are having laparoscopic surgery. There are two main reasons for this. The main one is in case the surgery becomes difficult and goes long then your bladder will be able to empty on its own and anesthesia can accurately keep up with your urine output to make sure you are being properly hydrated with IV fluids. The other reason is that some types of laparoscopic surgery are more difficult to accomplish if the bladder is filling up with urine and getting larger because it could block the view of the surgeon to be able to get to the structures they need to see to accomplish their surgery. I do not think the second one is a huge factor in this type of surgery, but mainly in laparoscopic surgeries of the pelvis region. I think that you will be able to negotiate this with your surgeon depending on your overall health. If you do not have a lot of other risk factors like heart conditions and are just morbidly obese then they may consider forgoing the catheter since you are at a lower risk for complications vs someone with many co-morbidities. If the surgeon absolutely insists on it in during surgery then request they remove it before you wake up in recovery. Good luck with your surgery and your weight loss journey following!

[justdance 0]

I asked about and was told yes I would need one.. he said because the surgical room and bed need to be as sterile as possible and that it would give him a good answer on my urine output and to make sure my kidneys were operating well. Now I have seen here and on OH that a few people could not go pee after surgery and to.have a catheter inserted after surgery.. trust me I'm not a fan of this either. It will be my first one and was one of my main concerns but I would rather keep everything sterile and at least its inserted while your sleeping. And just think of the pain meds you will be on when they take it out, u won't feel anything!!!

[camille01 2]

I went for my pre op, and a three hour eating class today, as March 1st approaches I get more and more excited to start my new lifestyle.

I have only one problem with the whole thing, I just found out today that they will be inserting a catheter for my hospital stay! This is not something I signed on for! I was told I would have to talk to the surgeon about it, and believe me I plan on it! I can not think of a single medical reason to catheterize me? Has anyone else been told they have to have this done? Its a good thing they told me today, rather me waking up with tube coming out of me .

I am not nervous about the surgery one bit, I have a great surgeon who I completely trust, however I am terrified of the catheter.

The lady that told was like, oh its no big deal, you'll be out when they put it in anyways. I was like, yeah but are they gonna put me out to remove it?

I am not happy about this at all.

hello....it was from my understanding that they would put in a cath..I think I would rather have one than to wake up laying in

pee...if they told you its a catheter or a adult diaper...which would you want...all joks aside..the catheter is to measure the output of Fluid intake...they have to measure it because you could be dehydrated and they never no it...I hope everything goes well for you ...just dont worry about it and look at it as a percaution...good luck..

[feedyoureye 3,087]

I was told I was getting a catheter at the last minute. They put it in when you are out, and I could hardly feel it when it was in. When they took it out I could hardly feel it. They want to measure liquid in and liquid out. It was not horrible at all.I would not consider it any kind of a dear breaker.

[Disney 20]

With all of the surgeries I have had, they put it in after I was out of it in the OR, and then when it came time to remove it, I hardly felt a thing. It is more annoying than painful. You will be fine. Just insist they do it after you are "sleeping"....

And I agree, it is very convenient to have when you are receiving all those IV fluids and have just taken a pain pill. You will be thankful not to have to hop up out of bed every hour during the night!

[warrior68 16]

Honestly, I am much more afraid of the catheter than the surgery at this point. I truly do not want a catheter, period end of conversation. I would much rather struggle to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom than have a catheter, no matter how bad the pain is. To respond to catheter or diaper question, give me the damn diaper! Its only for a couple hours, and I probably wont have to pee anyway.

I think maybe this is a much more touchy subject with men than it is with women, almost all women I talk to are like, oh so what, no big deal, but all the guys I talk to are like, hey dont be sticking that damn tube in my junk. I just flat out do not want it, and if it MUST be done, I want it taken out long before I wake up. I really think this could become a deal breaker with me.

I cant see where people would say its doesn't hurt, it has to hurt, not to mention is there bleeding and scaring in there after? No, No, Im in pain just thinking about it.

[Eureka-C 20]

I understand your concern. My husband has had several surgeries and he always hates the catheter. He always asks them to take it out before he wakes up. Usually this is good, but last time (appendix removed), the anesthetic lingered and his bladder got too full, preventing him from peeing and causing severe pain. They had to reinsert the catheter (by this time he was begging for it) to relieve some pressure and allow him to pee. He says next time he will let them keep it in to never have to go through that again. I tell you this because some types of anasthesia don't allow the body to work like it's supposed to and the catheter is required to prevent problems like this. My husband says all the times he has had one, there is no pain, no bleeding, no scarring. The last time they had to reinsert it when he was swollen inside caused a bit of uncomfortableness, but he was in so much pain by this time, the relief of releasing his bladder far outweighed that. As for my surgery, my surgeon uses general and a local as well, and does not require a catheter. Have a talk with the surgeon and the anesthesiologist and maybe you can work something out. In the end, no matter how uncomfortable the idea of the catheter, isn't it worth a few hours of annoyance to lose the weight?

[sarahh1828 4]

I'm an LVN student, it's my duty to do catheters for my patients. There is usually no bleeding or scarring after catheter insertion. It's usually a relatively painless procedure, although males do tend to express more discomfort than females.

That said, as a patient, and a female, I really DO NOT want that catheter either!! I had some really bad experiences in the past, and would much rather get up to pee than have the catheter. It makes me feel a little better that we'll be out while it's inserted, but I'd like to be asleep while it's removed too. lol. I know it's completely irrational, but that's how I feel, and I'm sure my doctor and I will have to have a long talk about it before my surgery.

[renniemommie 8]

Caths are not that bad. I know sometimes people get UTI's after one (and the hospital always claims clean conditions..), but taking it out awake is no real issue, ochy for a moment as they take it out and your happy it is gone. Talk to your Dr. Do what ever they want. I'd prefer not to have one, but I am going to let Dr. make call.

[BigDawgMark 1]

I had a cath tube....it was kinda a pain, but they do that to monitor the urine output and make sure you're not dehydrated.

I was when I was in the hospital and they pushed a lot of fluids in me and I wasn't going. They threatened to keep me in if I didn't start "producing"...strangely enough I started "producing" the next morning (after I snuck a Water pill when they weren't looking)....I wasn't staying in there another few days.

removal isn't a big deal, deep breath, blow and out it goes.....