Posted 4/20/2014 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
my recovery was somewhat atypical as I later discovered that I get severe Opioid Induced Constipation, which the nurses didn't detect during recovery as some constipation is normal. Once I was off the pain meds giving me such a hard time, I recovered pretty quickly.
Make sure you get your abdominal pillow. You hug it to your guts whenever you need to use your abs- coughing, sneezing, pooping, etc. The nurses had them on hand, but this was at Mayo, so it was literally an entire department devoted to recovery from abdominal surgery. But yeah, when they go in, even laproscopically, they cause some rather painful damage to whatever the muscles attach to. So when you try to use them, it HURTS. So don't! (don't worry, it won't be hard not to) Use the pillow and your upper body strength to provide the compression you need. Press it into your abdomen, and suddenly everything gets a lot easier. I still use it, as I have since developed a hernia and would really rather not make it worse. Also, you can get people to sign it like a cast!
Having help at the hospital shouldn't be a problem- that's the nurses' job. Having help at home shouldn't be a problem either, as they won't release you until you're capable of doing all the simple basic stuff you need to do. Just take it easy, don't push yourself too hard, and do all the cleaning stuff they tell you to.
Personally, I recommend getting a shower chair. It was so nice to be able to sit and slowly, carefully clean my wounds. I wish I could find a smaller one; the chair I had barely fit in my parents' tub, it won't fit at all in mine. Also, hand-held showerheads are fantastic for this, too. I would switch it between my legs and hanging over my back while i was doing the wound cleaning, so that I stayed warm, but the special soap didn't get washed away too fast.