Somebody listened to me! - first surgery ever, advice?

Talk to your doctors BEFORE surgery about pain management after surgery and make sure you have a clear plan for that. And make sure you arrange to have rest up time - I'm not sure if you have kids, a job, etc., but don't rush back in to any of that stuff. You might "feel" better but you still have to be aware that your body has gone through a lot and you need rest.

Best of luck and please KUP!

Umm...what they said. All very good advice! Couple other things that help me:

--Before leaving the hospital, be sure to have info about things like phone numbers of who to call or what to do if a question or concern comes up after office hours. Seems all of my problems occur after hours or on weekends and if you don't have the info on how to get in touch w/ someone, you either spend the time in pain and worried, or at the ER.

--There are no dumb questions: if you think of a question, no matter how "silly" it may seem to you at the time, ask it anyway. And if you are having issues w/ pain control, speak up! As Daesin said, talk with the doc ahead of time about post-op pain plan, but if it's not working well, let them know. That goes with any problem, let someone know. They can't help you if they don't know something's wrong.

--Not sure if pain meds will be scheduled or PRN (as needed) at home, but I find that sometimes I forget what time I took a med or whether I took it at all. So, I keep a piece of paper and pen next to all my meds, with a column for each med, (or however you want to arrange it), and when I take a pill, I have a record of what med, what dose, and what time. Lot easier than trying to remember. I do use med boxes for my normal scheduled meds, it's all the PRNs and stuff that throw me off. But writing it down has really made it easier. I decided I have to write it down before putting the pill in my mouth, and don't let anything distract me when I'm dealing w/ my meds.

(That all started because a few months ago, i accidentally took my night meds, went to watch tv til i got tired, then went back and thought "i need to take my meds" when I was pretty tired, and ended up then taking my morning meds. Needless to say, it was a weird and long night. Now I am much more careful. I also have meds to take in the middle of the night, and that gets really tough on the memory, so now before bed, I set them out, along with my list, and so far, so good.)

--One last thing: follow doctors orders. And if they tell you that you can do certain things as tolerated, they mean AS TOLERATED. Best thing you can do is give your body the time to properly heal. Sure, you'll feel like time is going by very slowly and you might feel like you can handle doing more sometimes, but don't push it. It's not worth hurting yourself and/or further delaying recovery. Plus, it's nice to sometimes be waited on by someone. So, get your family and friends to help out (talk to them before surgery to find out what each is willing and able to help with) and take good care of you! If you have any doubts, think about if you were helping a good friend after they had surgery--what would you tell them? I'm guessing you wouldn't dare let them try to do everything for themselves or just do too much, you'd be telling them to relax, that you are there to help while they rest. And you sure wouldn't want them to feel guilty about asking you for help. Treat yourself as you would treat those you care about. You deserve it!

Hope surgery goes well! Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers! Feel free to post any other questions or concerns about surgery or if you get anxious and just need some support and reassurance.

I have had several lap surgeries & I had more pain from the gas they use when doing the surgery. It was worse than the post op pain, lol. Walk it off, yes you will be able to, that is how you get rid of the gas. Usually the nurse will tell you this at time of discharge but I will give you heads up about it now. My daughter's exhusband's daughter had her gallbladder taken out during the summer & it was done by lap. She had the left over gas pain too. She said the pain from that was worse than the actual surgery. But the good news is, walking will alleviate this.

I am sure you will do fine.