Surgical stockings – You will need to wear these during and after surgery to prevent blood clots from forming in your legs while you are less mobile than normal.
Urinary catheter – A fine tube located in your urethra draining urine from your bladder. This is usually removed 24 to 48 hours after the operation.
Anti-sickness medication – This helps to reduce any sickness from the anaesthetic so you can start eating and drinking normally, which will help you recover quicker.
Breathing exercises – You will be shown how to do these to lower your risk of developing a chest infection, which can sometimes happen after surgery. You will also be given feet and ankle exercises to reduce the risk of developing blood clots.
Mobilisation – You will be helped to get out of bed six hours after your operation and you will spend the next two hours out of bed, either sitting or walking around. This helps your lungs to start functioning normally again and helps to get more oxygen into your body which will speed your recovery. You should aim to spend eight hours out of bed each day after this, unless advised otherwise by your doctor.
Eating and drinking: You will be encouraged to eat and drink again as soon as possible. Your body needs nutrients to heal and to help your gut to start moving again.
Pain control – Preventing a build up of pain allows you to move around, eat, drink and sleep comfortably. You may be given patient controlled analgesia, which allows you to administer your own dose of painkiller intravenously via a drip in your hand.