What to expect after your surgery

For these procedures you can expect to stay one night:

Some smaller procedures are done as day surgery and you go home the same afternoon. Your surgeon will tell you which applies to you before the day arrives.

It sounds more involved than it is. The nurse puts sterile water into your bladder through the catheter until it is full, then removes the catheter and asks you to go to the bathroom normally.

What we are checking is whether you can empty your bladder completely on your own. Surgery and swelling can make that temporarily difficult.

If you empty well, the catheter stays out and you go home without it.

If you cannot empty yet, the catheter is put back in and you go home with it, then come to the office in four or five days to have it removed. This is common, it is not a complication, and it is not a sign that anything went wrong with your surgery.

Yes, and it is expected. Brown or red discharge is normal for up to six weeks, gradually tapering.

You can use a peri bottle as much as you like for comfort and cleanliness. No special precautions are needed beyond that.

Call the office if you soak through a pad in an hour. That is the threshold that matters, and it is worth a phone call at any hour.

Leave the wound open to air. You may dry it with a blow dryer on a cool setting to reduce moisture. Supportive underwear can be comfortable and gives the abdomen some support.

Your incisions are closed one of two ways.

Surgical glue comes off on its own in ten to fourteen days. Let it. Do not pick at it or peel it, even when the edges start to lift.

Silk tape stays on for two weeks, then you remove it yourself. There is often adhesive left behind, so the nurses will send you home with a skin-safe adhesive remover to use around the incision sites.

Walking starts right away and it matters. It protects against blood clots and rebuilds your strength faster than rest does.

A good target at home is one lap around your house every hour you are awake. After a couple of weeks you can increase that.

Change positions often, and do calf raises at least four times a day — another simple thing that lowers clot risk.

Nothing rigorous — no lifting, running, or heavy housework — until your surgeon clears you.

Wait until your post‑operative appointment. Your surgeon will clear you for travel then, once they have seen how you are healing.

If you have a trip already booked, tell us before surgery rather than after. Sometimes the timing can be worked around.

Expect it, and get ahead of it. Narcotic pain medication slows the bowels considerably, and straining is the last thing you want after pelvic surgery.

Use a stool softener the whole time you are taking narcotics, not just when you notice a problem.

Drink plenty of water. Milk of Magnesia or Miralax can also be used to get things moving.

Call the office if you have not had a bowel movement by day five.

Leaking is common in the first few weeks and is usually related to swelling and healing rather than anything being wrong. It settles as you recover.

Retention can also happen — difficulty emptying completely. Call the office if you do not feel you are fully emptying your bladder.

If you went home with a catheter, call us to arrange having it removed.

If you are doing straight catheterization, you may stop once your residual is less than 150 cc.

No driving for the first two weeks, and not at all while you are still taking prescription pain medication — whichever is longer.

This is about reaction time and the strength it takes to brake hard, not just comfort.

Nothing over ten pounds for the first six weeks. That is roughly a gallon of milk.

It is the restriction patients most often underestimate. The repair needs that time to hold, and lifting is what undoes it.

Plan ahead for groceries, laundry baskets, grandchildren, and pets.

You can shower as soon as you are released from the hospital.

No baths until you are cleared in the office at your post‑operative visit. That means no tub, no pool, and no hot tub — nothing that submerges you. Submerging too early risks infection while things are still healing.

Nothing should be placed in the vagina for six weeks. That means no tampons, no douching, and no intercourse.

Your surgeon will clear you at your post‑operative visit.

Use your incentive spirometer twice daily — the plastic breathing device you were given in the hospital.

It keeps the lungs fully expanded, which lowers your risk of a chest infection after anesthesia.

A smaller appetite is normal and does not need fixing. Small, frequent meals are usually more comfortable than three full ones.

Avoid greasy, spicy, and gas‑producing foods for the first week.

Gas discomfort is very common after abdominal surgery and improves with walking.

Call the office promptly if you have nausea or vomiting.

Restart everything you normally take once you are home, unless you were told otherwise. That includes vitamins and over‑the‑counter medicines such as aspirin.

If the pain medication you were prescribed is not working, call the office rather than doubling up on your own.

Yes. Depression, poor sleep, and fatigue are common after an operation and usually settle by the second week.

Healing takes real energy. Rest is part of the treatment, not a sign you are falling behind.

If low mood is not lifting, tell us. It is worth a conversation.