Pain 8 days out
Ok so I knew this would hurt. My surgery was last Tuesday, and I'm doing well with fluids and protein. I had a little pocket of infection under my left lower incision. Ended up with staples out, and draining the area. We are now packing twice a day. My problem is, I'm still having to use pain meds to control my pain levels. I didn't expect to have to at this point. It hurts to stand straight, and it's hurting my back from leaning forward. LOL I feel like a 90 year old woman and I'm 33!! Anyone else still pretty sore this far out?
Buy or rent a walker. Use that to support your body when walking until it is easier to stand straight. Alternate using a heating pad or ice pack on your back. Do as much as you can to alleviate the pain without taking pain pills. Pain pills can be highly addictive and also cause terrible constipation.
Get a binder from a medical supply store. It will give your back the support it needs. Binders used to be issued to everyone who had abdominal surgery. That is no longer the case because of cost savings. I always buy my own and wear it until I no longer need it.
I have heated seats in my car and turn that on while I am in the car to keep my back muscles warm.
Real life begins where your comfort zone ends
Since you've suffered a minor complication, your recovery might be a little slower. However, I strongly encourage you to walk as much as possible and test your boundaries daily with getting up more often and for longer periods of time. I know that this helped me considerably when I had my surgery. I also had a hernia repair in 2004 and that was another story, it seemed to take me longer this time to recover and that was due to the pain. I also wasn't moving as much when I had RNY and I realized that was impacting my actual recovery that time around. So, just try to do a little bit more, daily. Stop if you feel extreme pain of course, but I think this will help.
Good luck!!!
