Just thought I'll drop a list of what I considered helpful to have during recovery.
UK - NHS.
I'm currently 13 days post op and would say I'm nearly 100% back to normal.
I recovered alone, in a houseshare. No complications. Could walk fine immediately.
I did get a lift home from surgery (stayed 1 night in hospital).
Hospital essentials:
- Dressing gown and sliders
I turned up at 8am on the day of surgery and was immediately told to change into a hospital gown (the open-ass type), hospital underwear, and compression socks. Had to wait 7 hours before it was my turn to go under (we only had the 1 surgeon and I was the last in the queue), so a thick dressing gown and easy to kick-on shoes are a must. The ward was freezing, and to make things worse the aircon units are set to blow right at each individual bed.
Bonus points if your gown has a hood, mine didn't.
- Phone charger
Self explanatory. The ward beds had a USB socket for non-medical devices which is what I used. I scrolled on my phone for the 7 hours I waited in the queue so it made a dent in my battery capacity. Mostly I was just paranoid I wouldn't find a socket whilst in recovery so I tried to keep my phone well topped up. But there was a normal wall socket in my recovery room so in the end it was fine. Still a must. Preferably the socket detachable USB type.
- Entertainment
I didn't bring anything physical so I used my phone for entertainment throughout the stay. Helps to have games, something to read, or people to text.
It will depend on how long you'll stay in, but it was mostly an issue whilst waiting for the op. After surgery you'll just nap if you're bored.
- Cough sweets
You'll be intubated whilst under general anaesthesia which will dry your throat out like hell. I was chugging water non-stop for the first 3 days and it didn't seem to be helping with the initial throat discomfort at all. Cough drops are good to have. Don't need many, a handful or so is enough. Moist food like yogurt, and hot teas are good as well for when you finally wake up.
- Set of loose clothing
Once you get discharged you'll be allowed to change out of the hospital gown. I changed into a standard T-shirt, and PJ bottoms. Best to have bottoms with a waist drawstring, as opposed to elastic, as it'll sit right by the incision and you'll still have some swelling/bloating. I didn't bleed at all post op, but a pad is good to have too. I was recommended loose underwear as well, but I didn't go out buying a size up or anything, I just packed a set I knew weren't as tight as my others.
I was picked up from the hospital by my sibling. After that I was alone in my room for the rest of the recovery.
I got sent home with extra compression socks, sterile dressings, meds, stool softeners, and a print-out of post-op instructions, FAQs, and hospital contact details.
Home essentials:
- Water
I bought several packs of 500ml bottled water. Mostly because I don't seem to drink as much as I should be drinking if my only option is tap. Having squash is also a good alternative.
They're good to have somewhere easily accessible (bedside), and try to make sure they're not too difficult to open. Don't want to tense too much.
I bought a Brita filter too, but that gets uncomfortably heavy when full so wasn't used until 4 days PO.
- Poop stool
With the provided stool softers I had a bowel movement on day 2. It helps a tremendous amount if you've got a way to elevate your feet whilst on the loo - or a poop stool. You can use a box or a square bin or something, if you don't already own one.
It will depend on your toilet height but I found something around 15cm high which worked well for me. You want it to be stable so your abs/core isn't engaged. Too low and it's inaffective, too high and it's uncomfortable. You will be spending several minutes on the throne, so try to make it comfortable.
- Sterile dressings and plasters
The hospital staff gave me some dressings, but I also had my own. The hospital only provided like 7 sterile pads which wouldn't be enough for all that long given that there were 4 incision sites.
I'm still keeping everything covered 13 days PO - not sure when to stop. I use a large sterile pad for the belly button incision as that's the longest cut and the dressing needs to be big enough to cover the whole belly button. And I found that generic sterile plasters are good enough to cover the other incision sites. They're only like 1.5cm long.
- Food
For breakfast I had granola/cereal, and peppermint tea (said to help with the gas bloating). And kept cereal bars by the bed if I couldn't be bothered to go downstairs.
Lunch was a pre-made sandwich, and a yogurt. And tea.
And for dinner I bought some microwavable ready meals for the fridge (keep an eye on the expiration date), and some meals for the freezer.
I had apples as a snack throughout the day if I felt peckish.
Early days (up to day 8) I would get light headed and dizzy when walking around. This could have been a side effect from the pain meds, or from not eating enough food.
With the medication schedule I was given, I needed to be up at 6am every morning for 5 days, and 1 pill had to be taken with/after food. So, expect to have 3 meals a day if you're not used to it.
- Pillows
I preferred to sleep slightly elevated for the first 3 nights. It also made rolling out of bed easier. As well as reaching things/water.
It helps if you have several pillows available to you. Or one of those wedge pillows. If not, a trick I used for my top surgery was putting something under the mattress instead, specifically a suitcase. Wouldn't recommend it if you've got a double bed though (or bigger) as it's not too stable then, and you'll get back to wanting to lie flat on day ~4 and will need to lift that mattress again to remove the stuff.
- Room heater (optional)
I woke up feeling slightly feverish the first night at home. I reckon it was because I was so tired after everything and because the temperature dropped in the night. It wasn't too low, like 11°C, but that was low enough to trigger my immune system.
I took some paracetamol between the standard med schedule to keep the fever away, and got a heater for the room for the next few nights.
- D-mannose pills (optional)
One thing I was stressed about was potentially getting a UTI from the catheter. In the end I didn't.
But taking D-mannose helped keep the pee stream clean and my anxiety at bay.
Peeing was difficult for me immediately post-op, and apparently it's also a side effect from the meds they give you. I found it helpful to touch a cold surface with my arm (disabled toilet sink) on the first day, then the poop stool at home for general comfort thereafter. For some reason they both helped me relax the bladder.
Chugging liters of water everyday helped too.
- Someone to check in with you daily
I might have recovered solo, but I still stayed in touch with friends and family.
It's nice to know someone will come looking for you if you go radio silent for more than a day.
Honestly overall I had a very straightforward and easy recovery. The above things are therefore a recommendation for the bare minimum.
I didn't run into any complications that required me to venture out early. And I was perfectly set for a week with all of the above. After day 8 I was fine to walk to my local store (10 mins away) for anything I was missing or low on.
Overall I'd say just consider how long you can go before needing to do laundry, a food run, getting other prescription meds, and the likes. And preferably bulk prep anything heavy in advance.
