Metal Mouth Message Board

OH DEAR. I READ SOMEWHERE LAST NIGHT ON HERE THAT SOMEBODY WAS PUT ON A CATHETER. THIS IS THE ONE THING THAT WOULD SERIOUSLY PUT ME OFF MY SURGERY...ITS ONE OF MY WORST FEARS! HOW COMMON WOULD THIS BE AND WHY CANT YOU GO YOURSELF IF ITS ONLY AN OPERATION ON YOUR FACE???
ARRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

My surgery was 3.5 hours (scheduled for six, but went very smoothly)- and I DID have a catheter for it. I honestly don't recal a single thing about the catheter if that makes you feel better. i.e. if they hadnt told me they were putting one in I never would have even known. I agree, it sounds awful....but if your tough enough to have the surgery in the first place I dont think its an issue.

I think what Meryaten said is correct: they give you one, once your under the anesthetic, and they take it out when the O.R. is done....you don't need it for your hospital stay.

I also freaked out a little when I found out on the day of my surgery that I would have a catheter. Nobody had mentioned it to me beforehand so I assumed that I wouldn't. However, I don't remember a single thing about it... It was put in once I was already "asleep" and taken out either before I woke up or before I woke up enough to know what was going on! Either way, not a big deal.

I don't know if I had one or not to be honest! My surgery was 8 hours long so I would say I must have had one when I was under... But when I was awake I didn't.

I was very unsteady for the first few days so they gave me a cardboard thing as they didn't want me walking around.

So if you do have one you probably won't know anything about it.

this was probably one of the things that freaked me out the most before my surgery, but i promise you it's not that bad at all. i was put under before they put it in and i vaguely vaguely recall them taking it out i didn't even feel it it's just my nurse told me thats what they were doing. don't let this keep you from surgery i assure you it's not that bothersome.

My surgery was about six hours and I had a catheter put in after I was asleep and it stayed in until the next day. It was not a big deal, honestly. Most of the time I couldn't feel it. I was much more bothered by the tube that went in my nose and into my stomach - that was not fun.

Don't let the catheter scare you - it is a small inconvenience in exchange for all the benefits that your surgery will achieve!

My surgery was about six hours and I had a catheter put in after I was asleep and it stayed in until the next day. It was not a big deal, honestly. Most of the time I couldn't feel it. I was much more bothered by the tube that went in my nose and into my stomach - that was not fun.

Don't let the catheter scare you - it is a small inconvenience in exchange for all the benefits that your surgery will achieve!

My doctor told me (since I asked about this) that usually they put the catheter in if your surgery is going to be longer then 6 hours. In the beginning I was only going to have lower jaw surgery nad he said I would not need one. Now since I will be having upper, lower, an genio, I will for sure be getting a catheter. My doctor said it will be put in after I'm already out, an taken out before I wake up so I won't even know its there.

I think it might freak me out a bit if I had to have it in for a day or two, but since that is not how it is going to happen I'm fine with the whole thing. Seems from what I have read that standard procedure is to take it out before the patient even knows it there. So....in my mind, what you don't know, or remember....can't hurt you! LOL..

I will be having a lot of stuff done when I go under. Upper, plus they will be scoping to find if I have an oral antral fistula (a hole between my sinuses and my oral cavity.) If they find it they will be fixing that, along with all the upper movement stuff. Then I will be having lower jaw surgery, with a bone graft in the lower left molar area, plus they will be doing genio. My surgeon is very good, and quick, but I can't imagine that the will get done with all of this stuff before 6 hours, so he said they will be placing the catheter either way. If ithe surgery is done sooner it will come out and I will be none the wiser. If it drags on longer thn 6 hours then it will be there if I need it. Personally for me, I'm all about whatever needs to be done to make things go as smoothly as possible. The catheter is really no big deal to me at all.

Brandy

I have not had ortho surgery but I have had a catheter b4, Its not that bad, you don't even feel it.

While it would have been nice to have the catheter out before I woke up and be none the wiser, it was very convenient to not have to worry about getting up to go to the bathroom. I was actually not able to sit up in bed, let alone get up and walk, until mid-morning the day after surgery. I was just too weak and dizzy. My first trip to the bathroom the morning after was actually quite an ordeal. I made it there ok, but then got really dizzy and had to call for the nurse - she brought a wheelchair and wheeled me back to bed. I don't know - maybe this is unusual and most people can get up and move around after surgery?

They give you quite a lot of fluids through the IV, so without the catheter I guess I would have been using the bedpan a lot?? I am not really sure what I would have done.

Believe me, the catheter is not so bad... And besides that, I was given quite a lot of morphine and was pretty clueless about what was going on most of the time!

ohmyjaw- i had the same experience as you. My first time up to the bathroom...i fainted and they had to get a stretcher to get me back to my bed. The second time wasn't such an ordeal...but i was still quite dizzy and nauseus. The third time was fine.