What is the one thing you couldn't live without during post-surgery recovery?

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Support from family and friends. I'm only 6 days in but my mother has stayed with me in the hospital room every single night, keeping me company. I'd be bored out of my mind without her. The days and nights are long in hospitals.

A recliner as well, I already know laying down flat in a bed will be too painful. Getting out of it may be even worse.

My iPad, light and convenient. :)
 
Prune juice to keep from getting constipation. I had two enemas in the hospital after my surgery and it was the most painful thing in my life. I did not think I would need a bench for the shower but had to send my daughter out to buy one. I did not have a recliner. I used a bed. I put a chair next to my bed to keep my dog from possibility jumping on me. The chairs helped me to be able to get out of bed. It gave me something to hold on to pull myself up.
 
My back was extremely tight and sore following surgery, so I purchased a shaitsu massage chair w/ built in heat from a Brookstone store (about $100 if I remember correctly) and it was a huge help. Helped improve my posture and not feel so slumped over from having the tight chest incision. I also felt like it helped me breath better too.
 
Two things: A "shower chair" that fits in the tub or shower stall, and a weekly pill box with multiple slots for each day, especially useful for the early post-op weeks when I had several pills to remember.
 
daveh;n851994 said:
a weekly pill box with multiple slots for each day, especially useful for the early post-op weeks when I had several pills to remember.
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Yes! Definitely a pill box. My pill box is quite colorful right now with all the different pills I'm taking post surgery.
 
I didn't use a pill box, but I did keep a checklist of meds taken, by date and dosage. I also kept a log of my weight and blood pressure, and INR. The logs made discussions with docs easier, as we had historical data to use in planning, etc.
 
My teddy bear heart pillow that the hospital gave me. We all know getting in and out of bed ain't the business, but this pillow makes things better.
 
Sugar free popsicles! In fact, I ate all the Popsicles on my post surgery recovery floor at the Cleveland Clinic. They had to get more from another department:)
 
canon4me;n852527 said:
Sugar free popsicles! In fact, I ate all the Popsicles on my post surgery recovery floor at the Cleveland Clinic. They had to get more from another department:)
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LOL..I forgot about the popsicles! They brought me popsicles several times because I pretty much refused all food. Those popsicles felt so good on my throat!!!
 
Two rather practical things:

1. When I woke from surgery the only pain I had (and it was significant) was in my shoulder. Morphine didn't make it go away. The nurse put a hot pack under it for a couple hours and the pain went away, never to return. Too bad I refused it until the second day!
2. A "pill minder" app for my phone. I had so many pills and supplements to take the first couple of weeks, it was easier to put reminders on my phone than to remember them all and have to pull out the discharge sheets from the hospital all the time.

When you wake up from surgery, take it easy on the ice chips or you'll be throwing them back up. Go slow even though you'd like to swallow a whole glacier.
 
Now that I'm on the other side I can add my own answer. I will say the combination of wi-fi, smartphone and netflix. If not for these things I think I would have completely lost my marbles having to stay in the hospital for a couple days longer than planned.
 
Paleowoman said:
My husband, my husband, my husband. There was nothing inanimate that I couldn't live without, but I needed someone to make me drinks, make me food, make my bed, take me to the doctor's, and put up with me ! Well, maybe my sofa would be that inanimate object ? I slept on it at night as I couldn't lie down in a bed for six weeks, I rested on it during the day when I needed rest, it was cozy and comfy and warm and I had everything around me I wanted as it was in the living room - oh and my mobile phone to phone my husband who was upstairs in bed during the night the few occasions I needed something badly and couldn't get myself - that was an invaluable tip I got from this forum !
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What if we are alone, live alone, single, no family or friends to take care of us ?
 
harrietW said:
This is a great question as l am single live alone and quite honestly getting very nervous about how this whole thing will play out. I see my Cardiologist on Jan 26th 2015 to start the "Work Up" for OHS val replacement. Weve have been talking about this for 20 mth and now ldont know what any of this means. 😕 How long general l wonder does it all take once they use the words "work up"
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I am in the same boat
 
Money / insurance .....really one as they were intertwined. If you had a different idea asking the question it would not be anything like Netflix or music or companionship of a loved one. I couldn't enjoy most things I was too uncomfortable while having the cash and insurance to cover things was a load of concern off my mind. I had plenty of other things like concern I would not make it back in shape to keep my job. You can't hurry healing at the beginning. Or maybe it just is too much is needed and I wanted / needed to be doing more. I did find ways to push the envelope later on after my body had its own time out of my control.
 
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