Purpose: To examine anxiety and what older patients worry about related to anesthesia and colorectal surgery, and their perceptions regarding nurses' ability to ease preoperative worry.

Design: Qualitative individual face-to-face interviews.

Methods: The study included 18 patients aged between 62 and 91 years with lower abdominal tumors. The study was conducted in two day-surgery wards in Sweden. Interview data were analyzed with Malterud's systematic text condensation.

Findings: Four themes were identified: (1) losing control of one's body, leaving one's life in someone else's hands, and the feeling that there is no going back, (2) claustrophobia and anticipated pain in an unknown environment, (3) unknown and frightening vocabulary concerning the surgery, and (4) what can happen if something goes wrong.

Conclusions: Patients worry about a number of things. If preoperative worry could be identified, actions taken to reduce worry could be personalized and patients' own strategies to reduce worries may be helpful for them.