Tips for recovery

I'm having surgery this Monday and was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice that they found helpful during recovery?

things that worked for me were: wearing a binder during the day, sipping water regularly, making sure to walk every day, following my doctor's progression for liquids, getting good rest and not pushing myself, having a support network to help me, having some shakes/broth/jello on hand, but not overdoing it because your really don't take in very much at first. Best of luck!

Thank you!

I was looking at some compression tops for men yesterday, I have them saved in my cart and was going to order 2 when I get paid tonight. My doctor has given me a list of things I need to do. I have to drink 64oz of fluid not including protein shakes. I have to get 60-80gm of protein in a day. Planning to stock up some broth and jello this weekend. They said to try and start with 3x 10-15 minute walks a day and add more as I can tolerate.

My original goal for protein was 90 grams..It was easiest to get in by adding protein supplements to warm liquids.. My pouch was only 45 cc...! with the fluids being held away from all food intake it was easiest to get all in by doing liquids until the edema went down. Know you may have days when you don't get all in exactly as supposed to... make sure not to short change your liquids 2 days in a row... If your fluids are a little low one day make sure you get adequate in the next day- even starting your day early or remaining up later to get what you must get in..

. be patient with yourself. follow drs orders and expectations as closely as possible. You are getting a new tool taking the very best care of it will give you a tool for life.... be sure to make several copies of your post op instructions for vitamins and long term care of your pouch and new absorption rules. Including your protein/carb requirements for healing and for weight management long term.

when changes are made from new blood work make changes by makring thru and date it and write why it was changed. 20 years down the line you may not remember why something was changed... /when and it may be important.!

I'm 3 weeks removed from surgery. They said my recovery went great. I'm on soft proteins now like moist chicken, eggs, ricotta and cottage cheese. Everything is going well, there are some days were things just seem to not sit quite right. I've been hitting my fluid goal most days, but if there is a day i'm short I make sure to make up for it the next.

The hardest thing right now is the being patient. I've been following their orders, it's just without any pain or issues during recovery I feel myself some days thinking i should be further ahead. And then I have friends remind me that I've had major surgery less than a month ago and need to be patient with myself. I've never been a patient person so this is the hardest part.

I will have to remember to take notes like that!

It helped me to know the recovery pain wouldn't last very long. Being patient was the key. Taking one day at a time, one meal at a time.

Thank you!

Make sure that your doctor has a plan for constipation, because between the pain meds, low food and liquid intake and vitamins, it can be really bad at first.

They did give me a plan and list of instructions in the program booklet they give us.

For your hospital stay, bring a small extension cord for your phone so it can sit at your bedside or table that's able to reach at a comfortable distance. Chapstick because it gets cold and lips (at least for me) needed to be protected.