General
Surgical Recovery must haves
As I shared, I'm currently about a month in to recovery for my abdominal wall transplant. Having had so many surgeries, and so much time spent recovering, I've been thinking about what my must haves for recovering well are, and I thought I'd share some of them with you.
My first must have is a heating pad. Either the kind you put in the microwave or the plug in kind. If I use a plug in one, I like to put a heavy blanket on top, just because I find the weight really nice against my incisions.
Especially in the early days of recovery, when you're not sleeping 24/7 but not really able to get up and do things yet, I find it really hard to follow full episodes of TV shows that are made for adults, or to listen to a podcast all the way through. My trick for this: cartoons! Kids cartoons, or playlists of background music, things I don't have to pay close attention to but can have the noise is something I find really comforting. And it's really soothing throwing it back to my childhood and watching all those 90's cartoons I used to love
I'm a journaler, but sometimes I notice myself really struggling to pick up a pen or form coherent sentences after surgery, so I'll use either the notes app or the voice recorder app on my phone.
Another thing I've started doing, especially when its a planned surgery, is making myself a little surgery/recovery care package. I'll make it beforehand, and put little goodies in there for myself. Anything I can do to make life a little cozier for my future, recovering self.
What are your best surgical recovery tips? I would love it if we could all share and make a really comprehensive list
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I really loved having my computer with me to skype/zoom other people without it using my phone. It was really great to not have to hold it up.
Another thing I really appreciated was a sleep mask. I don't normally use one but sleep at a hospital is kind of crappy. So being able to black things out and relax i the middle of the day or night was really important to me.
I love the start of your list @AliEm14 while in the hospital, I’m a little out of the ordinary. I try to start wearing my own clothes and get out of the hospital gown as quickly as is feasibly possible. There’s something about being in my own comfy clothes that helps me feel like it’s easier to get better. This can be tricky after surgery with so many tubes and places nurses have to access on your body, but it does become possible eventually. I bring very loose clothing.
I second @authenticallyapril on eye masks. I also bring ear plugs because the night after my transplant I shared a room with an older woman who kept the TV on full volume all night on her side of the room (that was only blocked with a curtain) and then was up all night in uncomfortable pain. I felt badly for her, but I was completely unable to rest and recover and I believe it contributed to my delayed graft function.
I also brought my favorite pair of hard soled house slippers (that the soles can get disinfected), my own pillows, a comfy soft blanket, and an essential oil diffuser. Not every hospital will let you do that with the diffuser, but mine thankfully did. They said I was the best smelling room on the floor. 🤣
As far as healing after getting home from the hospital, I like having meals prepped for going in or having people bring meals. As a fam of 6, dinners need to be something they can do on their own without my help for the first few weeks, depending on the surgery.
Ideally, I’d have some help cleaning the house while I’m down, but if not, my family is good to pick up the slack until I’m able to do more household chores.
@AliEm14 i love your suggestion about cartoons. It’s nice to keep things simple with not too much to follow along. When I was having a difficult time healing post transplant, I did enjoy reading some books because I couldn’t keep only looking at a screen. The two most impactful ones I read then were The Alchemist and Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself.
When I was in too much pain, I would listen to soft music, especially Christian based acoustic songs. A favorite of mine is “There is Peace in Christ”. That helped the very most to calm my nervous system.
Also, celebrating small victories and focusing on the good is something I would have done more of. I felt like such a failure for needing my surgery, especially when it didn’t work for 7 weeks post op.
I was grateful to have my surgery in the summer, because I made it a priority to go outside every day and be in nature. I even went tent camping 2 months post op in the lovely upper peninsula of Michigan. Prioritizing enjoying nature was so healing emotionally for me.
I would also now add in EFT tapping meditations to help calm my nervous system.
I love this crowd sourcing! It would be great to get a PDF of these suggestions up on the blog!
Transplant Patient
@Shelbycreates It's interesting how you preferred books over screens. I found anything with text too hard, even if it was just messages or reading forms. But I second the music. I think the sound was more beneficial for me than anything. I definitely needed that background noise. I would actually have headphones in all night with music playing as opposed to earplugs
@Shelbycreates I still cannot believe there are hospital rooms have after transplant have you sharing a room with someone else. Seems so wrong.
And I agree, meal prep/homemade frozen meals are a must!
@AliEm14 I remember having a hard time focusing coming out of donation surgery. Screens were bad, but reading also hurt. I pretty much just wanted to sleep until the pain was more managable.
We learn best from those who have been through it. This is a huge asset!
My hospital allowed me to bring my own clothing which was great except I brought pajama pants and even 5 months post op I have a hard time wearing anything across my abdomen. Button up night gowns are clutch! I am always cold and long sleeves in the hospital are very hard. Extra blankets were nice. I thought the hospital ones smelled really bad and my senses were heightened. I was glad to be able to use my own lightly scented lotions and have a blanket from home. I also used my own slippers at the hospital. The Thymo made my skin crawl and I needed soft fabric touching me. I had my husband bring a heating pad (which was actually off limits) because during the Thymo treatment I almost had to sit naked for the first 2 hours but I was freezing. We put the heating pad under the fitted sheet on the bed and I could sit on it. At home, I was very lucky my coworkers all send me a lump sum of money for meals or whatever I needed. I used it to have my house deep cleaned at 6 and 12 weeks post op. I was going crazy at home not being able to even run the vacuum yet, and while my husband was helpful he also had a lot of extra work helping me.
I actually loved reading on my iPad. I could set it on the table and not hold it and still read. I also did a lot of coloring. I never had much pain after transplant, except the over stimulation during Thymo treatment. Being able to walk the ward was so important for me. I was up and moving independently right away so my nurses trusted my husband and my mother to walk with me.
biggest thing for me was the inability to wear pants or anything with a waistband. I underestimated how much that would impact me.
After my heart and liver transplant either a raised toilet seat or adult-height commode was essential after so much preop muscle loss. The chest pillow was critical for avoiding chest strain until it healed. Investing in a set of bed elevators for the bed and chair/sofa legs helped avoid a lot of the strain in getting up & down. Shower bars should be a requirement, but not the suction-cup type, they can suddenly pop off the wall, risking falls! Other helps: loose-fitting clothes, button-up shirts vs pullovers, slip-on shoes, support hose, learning how to safely enter/leave vehicles. Fortunately, for my first month postop I transitioned into a contract ground floor apartment next to the hospital - huge benefit during frequent postop clinic visits.
My phone was my lifeline with friends and family on a daily basis. I did have trouble reading text at first but my wonderful nurses helped me. I took books and magazines but never had the time to read. My blanket was my comfort item and my best friend made me a small photo album of things, people snd places that made me smile. I kept it by my bed and looked at it every night. One of my favorite things!! Wasn’t allowed to put on my on my pjs I had drainage tubes in my stomach and of course the tubes coming out my neck. But I was ok in the gowns.
Yess!! I still struggle with waistbands at times. It took me years before I started wearing jeans again. Yoga pants are EVERYTHING! I also love wearing dresses.
Transplant Patient
I am a weird one I guess but I hate wearing my own clothes in the hospital. Waist bands are an issue, but also I tend to run really warm, and hospitals where I am are also notoriously warm, so I sweat like crazy! If I’m going to get something dirty, I’d prefer it not be something of mine. For my transplant surgery I actually brought in a little tan that I had running constantly, and ice packs squished all in beside me because I’d get so hot