If you wish they can place it and remove it while you are asleep. You'll never know it's there.

Don't like that but I may have to compromise at that.

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Originally Posted by J_9

If you wish they can place it and remove it while you are asleep. You'll never know it's there.

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I understand you don't like it, and I understand why. But sometimes, even though you may not know the reasoning, there is a necessary "evil" as to why we have to do the things we do.

You see, I am an OB nurse, but I also work in the ER. What you may find invasive, intrusive and painful has a reason. We aren't doing it just because we want to.

In OB I have to monitor my girl's blood pressure constantly. They wear a blood pressure cuff at all times and their BP is taken every 30 minutes, sometimes more often. They hate it, but it's a necessary evil. Why? Because there are dangers associated with labor and delivery that go beyond what my patients know. An increase in blood pressure can indicate possible seizures, a decrease can indicate compromise to the fetus. My patients don't understand that, they aren't medically educated to know that.

Your situation is very similar. When undergoing surgery of the abdomen a catheter must be placed to make sure that the bladder has not been knicked. That would be indicated by blood in the urine in the foley bag. We also have to measure input and output. By that I mean we need to measure how much fluid we put in you and how much comes out. If not enough comes out you could suffer from congestive heart failure.

We aren't Nazi's, we don't enjoy doing this to you any more than you enjoy getting it. But there are reasons, very serious reasons, why these things are done.

Just to let everyone know, I had the surgery successfully and a catheter was never used on me. This hospital seemed to be better than a previous hospital I had been to. When I explained to the nurse that it was not uncommon for me to only urinate once every three days she actually listened to me unlike previous nurses and understood that not urinating for me was normal. They let me stay there never urinating until a day and a half after the surgery without a catheter. At least these nurses listened and were open minded without a personal agenda of their own. Thanks for all your info though. I am sorry if I was a bit angry and if I upset the nurses on this forum, I was just upset with some nurses from a previous experience. I found out that not all nurses are the same. Some actually do listen to you and respect you.