Catheter and peeing pain/ problems later?

Question

My dad had surgery two days ago for gall stones and they gave him a catheter afterwards. I don't get why they did because he never had trouble peeing or anything before, or maybe they thought he would because of the surgery...so just to be on the safe side, or maybe it's just standard precaution after the surgery, I dunno. He was only supposed to have it in for just a day, so just for that day. They took it out yesterday and he was in a lot of pain when he tried to pee. Today they put the cathether back in because he now cannot pee on his own and because if the pain. They gave him antibiotics but the pain was still there when he tried to pee on his own. Today he also felt very cold. My mother said it was because of pee buildup inside him during the time the catherer out...because he was unable to pee on his own due to the pain. Can anyone explain more on this?...How buildup of pee in someone can cause them to feel cold?

Answer 1

fluid buildup can decrease circulation due to swelling but that would be more like kidney trouble, the cath could have caused a urinary tract infection or seeing as it is pretty invasive to insert that tube into the urethra it could have lead to painful urination, if a person knows it will hurt to pee, sometimes they cant go, and it is standard for surgery patients to have a cath, the body reacts to pain in many different ways, maybe they could give him some pyridium to aid in the pain relief during urination.