Hello all. I have seen you tube videos with post op tubes in your nose. Is this customary?? What is it for?

Hi, Autumnrain---do you mean the oxygen tube? I had one right after surgery, to keep my blood oxygen levels up. It just sort of sits at the front of your nostrils and gently blows oxygen. By the third day of my hospital stay, I was allowed to stop wearing it.

The poster above is correct its the oxygen tube. Ill be honest I had no idea i was wearing it until about 5pm on my day of surgery when they said they were going to take it off.

No tube IN my nose, just one like the posters above. Actually I started off with an oxygen mask and it was then changed to be the little tube under my nose. It isnt a big deal no worries.

As the others have said a nasal cannula for oxygen is common but it just sits below your nose with 2 prongs barely entering your nostrils to blow oxygen in. Now if what you saw was 1 tube that actually goes up into a nostril, it was probably an n.g. tube which is passed through the nose down the esophagus into the stomach and is then attached to a suction unit to remove contents from the stomach, this might be used if there was excess bleeding in the stomach or a large build up of air trapped in the stomach. But it is not common to the best of my knowledge.

They give you oxygen after surgery because you don't breath deeply until you wake up or 24 hours after when all the drugs wear off. Some need longer then others.