How to care for your pelvic floor muscles after surgery?

Many female friends usually experience pelvic floor muscle relaxation due to various reasons. Mild pelvic floor muscle relaxation can be effectively improved through some exercises, such as pelvic floor exercises, etc. However, when some serious diseases occur due to pelvic floor muscle relaxation, it should be treated with medication or even surgery. Below, the editor will introduce some care methods after pelvic floor muscle surgery.

After the operation, the patient will be admitted to the postoperative observation room, and the ECG, blood oxygen saturation, and blood pressure will be monitored, and low-flow oxygen will be continuously inhaled. The patient will return to the ward after 2 hours of stable vital signs. If there is arrhythmia, ST-T changes, Bp is too high or too low, or cardiopulmonary function decline, the patient will be admitted to the ICU for continuous monitoring and treatment.

Pain observation: Pain as the fifth vital sign is increasingly valued. Generally, the pain after various types of pelvic floor reconstruction surgery is not severe, and the patient only feels dull pain and discomfort in the lower abdomen, which is still tolerable. The patient should take a comfortable semi-recumbent position and be given appropriate sedative and analgesic treatment to make the patient painless and comfortable. Pay attention to whether there is severe pain in the perineum, patient agitation, and be alert to intravaginal incision hematoma. In this article, two cases complained of severe pain and restlessness, and developed vaginal incision hematoma. The prognosis was good after the hematoma was removed.

Vaginal bleeding and fluid: There is gauze packing in the vagina 24 to 48 hours after surgery. Generally, patients may have vaginal discharge of light bloody fluid for about 20 to 30 days. This is more common in elderly patients and patients who have undergone mesh repair. Pay attention to whether there is any odor, darkening of color, or increased amount.

Catheter care: According to the intraoperative situation, an intravaginal abdominal negative pressure drainage tube is placed, and attention should be paid to properly fix, maintain patency and sterility, observe the properties of the drainage fluid, and record the drainage volume; an indwelling urinary catheter is left open for 2 days, clamped every 4 hours, and removed after 2 to 3 days.

Diet and activity: Start liquid food 4 to 6 hours after surgery, semi-liquid food after anal gas is restored, and easily digestible normal food 3 days after surgery. Emphasis is placed on early and adequate intake of food, taking into account the characteristics of the elderly patients' declining digestion and absorption capacity year by year, and formulating individualized nutrition plans; continuously assessing the nutritional status of patients, and rechecking electrolytes, blood and urine routine on the first day after surgery; early identification of patients with insufficient oral intake, patients with special eating habits, and religious beliefs who are unwilling to change after preoperative nursing intervention, and providing intravenous nutritional support to meet the needs of various nutrients for postoperative recovery. Develop a postoperative activity procedure: after waking up from anesthesia, begin to actively move the limbs, especially active extension and flexion of the lower limbs, 2 to 3 times/hour; stand by the bed 24 hours after surgery, get out of bed and walk 48 hours after surgery, and elderly patients should walk with assistance.

Perineal care: Before removing sutures from retained urinary catheters and perineal wounds, scrub the perineum with chlorhexidine twice a day, and increase the amount depending on the degree of contamination. Pay attention to thoroughly clean the secretions between the folds of the labia majora and minora, and stains around the anus and at the base of the thighs, to ensure the quality of perineal care to prevent retrograde infection and affect the healing of wounds in the vagina. According to Orem's self-care theory, elderly patients who cannot achieve complete perineal self-care after surgery should be scrubbed until discharged.

After the surgery, good care is very helpful for the rapid recovery of the new body. If women do not receive reasonable and correct care after surgery, they are likely to suffer from postoperative infection, postoperative complications, etc., which will further affect their physical health and be very unfavorable for their postoperative recovery.