After Pubovaginal Sling

Follow these guidelines when you leave the hospital. They will help you know what to expect when you get home. If you have any problems or questions, feel free to call your doctor.

Activity

• You may eat when you feel up to it.

• Take showers rather than tub baths until your incision heals.

• Do not put anything in your vagina for 6 weeks. (No tampons or douches.)

• Do not have intercourse for 6 weeks.

• Do not lift anything heavy.  This is very important. (You use your pelvic muscles to lift objects and move furniture. If you lift, you risk harming the healing process of these muscles.)

• Do not drive for 2 weeks, or while in pain or on narcotics.

• Do not resume active exercises until you check with your doctor at your follow-up appointment.

• If you received white elastic knee socks, you may keep wearing them. They may give you relief from leg aches and swelling. The socks promote circulation.

• If you have a Foley catheter, follow the instructions you received about your catheter and leg bag.

Care of your incision and dressings

• Look at your incision every day. Call your doctor if the incision is red, swollen, or looks like it is coming apart. Also call your doctor if your drainage is yellow or green or smells bad.

• Your internal stitches will dissolve. In a week or two, you may have a little vaginal bleeding or discharge. This is due to the dissolving of the stitches.

• You should have very little bleeding or drainage. 

Incision with stitches

• Leave the steri-strips in place for 7 days. (Steri-strips are the small pieces of surgical tape that the nurses placed across your incision line before you left the hospital.) You may remove them 7 days after you leave the hospital if they haven't already come off.

• If you leave the hospital with your surgical staples intact, we will make an office appointment for you to have your staples removed.

Incision with Dermabond

• Do not pick at the polymerized film on the Dermabond. Picking at the film can cause the incision to come apart.

• The Dermabond film will come off by itself. This usually takes 5 to 10 days.

• During the 5 to 10 days, you may shower. Wash the site gently. Do not scrub or soak the site. Do not let the site be wet for a long time.

Pain

• It is common to have cramps and tenderness in your abdomen. These will slowly go away as your body heals. Short walks or changing your position when lying down may help relieve some of your pain.

• Take the pain medicine prescribed by your doctor.

• You may have some bleeding or bloody drainage from your vagina. This is normal.

Call your doctor if:

• You have chills or a fever that stays higher than 101 degrees

• Your incision is red or swollen.

• You have more than a little bleeding or drainage from your incision.

• Your incision looks like it is coming apart.

• You have more pain than you can bear.

• You feel sick to your stomach or you vomit.

If you have questions, please call your doctor’s office.  After hours, call Essentia Health Nurse Care Line.