I'm wondering whether or not you really need a friend or spouse in the hospital right after you had your surgery. My doctor only does surgeries on Thursdays, and the person who is coming with me has to work only on the weekdays. She is a new mom and obviously needs the money, and if I don't really need her at the hospital, I don't really want her to take unpaid time off to watch me sleep. I figure if the nurses are going to be harassing me all the time, and the pain medicine is going to make me sleep then I'm not really going to need a friend there. I only have to stay overnight. I'm a pretty practical person, and I'm not really one for moral support so I don't think that will be an issue. Does anyone think that's a bad idea?

I'm a single mom, I had someone drop me off and pick me up, that was it. I did have visitors but the first day all u want is sleep till the anaesthesia wears off. So don't worry go alone u'll be fine.

You guys are freaking me out with this "day 1" stuff....I only stayed overnight...how long did you stay?

I stayed two nights. It will depend on the doctor. I wish I could have stayed longer! You really dont get alot of rest the first night with the nurses checking on you every few hrs. I came home dec. 29. My daughter was dropped off the 30th. And I got no help from family. I was up making her meals, getting her clothes. I over did it but I had too.

I had my husband the day of surgery. But the next two days he went to work. Nurses were very helpful. The 1st night is the worse. My hubby would come an hr or so after work to see, then went home to take care of kids. You will be fine!! Best of luck. Take care

Thank you for all the replies! I think I'll be fine by myself at the hospital. The hard part will be keeping my friend away! She'll probably ignore me and stay anyway!

You will want some encouragement and a pop in visitors.. good luck! You will do great!! Just remember to take small sips and move.. (take your pain meds ).

I have gone thru 3 spinal fusions and went to work the morning of one of them. I spent 3 weeks in hospital with spine infection and my spouse brought me lunch on Saturday before heading out to the lake house. She just does not do well just sitting around and would have driven me nuts. Lol. She not supportive of my having the sleeve done. Just thinks I love have surgeries. Ya right. My conservative agreed with my having the sleeve done to get off all my meds cause when I go on disability when I turn 65 in May I won't be able to afford them. I am at BMI 33 his comment was we have to put some weight on you.

You are correct as you will either be sleeping or peeing or doing mini walks in halls. The nurses will be there and you're in for a very short stay.

Your friend won't be much support as in helping you walk (if needed) or able to help you with pain. Nurses are there for that.

She will be bored. You will most likely be going in and out of sleep and there may even be visiting restrictions at your hospital so she might not be able to stay for very long anyways.

You're time there will go very fast and if you know you won't need her moral support, I think it's safe to say that you'll be completely fine without her.

Good luck and take care!

Hmmm never mind I see you had your surgery over 2 years ago!

Ignore my message! Hahaha

After all of my surgeries, I just wanted people to leave me alone so I could sleep. Once the nurse kicked my mom out for a few hours telling her to go have a nice lunch and shopping. She then put a note on the door saying that she was to be informed if someone needed to come in to check with her first.

I believe that someone having any type of surgery should always have someone who knows them waiting for them at the hospital to be their advocate. This belief comes from personal experience as both patient and advocate. No one goes into surgery expecting the worse but what if something goes wrong and a timely decision is needed? Also when you have been under anesthetic and are on pain meds, you are not up to advocating for yourself. Your advocate may not need to be there all day, but should be there at least until you are back up to your room.

After advocating for my Mom and ex-husband, I thought I could do it for myself when I had wrist surgery. I came out of the surgery very nauseous from the anesthetic and the pain meds and ended up barfing every 10 minutes. They handed me a barf bag and sent me home. My husband was with me but didn't insist that they keep me there until I stopped barfing which I would have insisted on if I would have had my wits about me.

Absolutely not. Mine wasted a whole day doing nothing.

My surgery was outpatient. Arrived at 6 am. Surgery at 7 am. Discharged at 5 pm. But if I had to stay I would have been fine alone. The nurses were amazing.

I think it's personal preference. My husband was there when I got out of surgery and as soon as I was coherent enough, I sent him on his way. We went to Tijuana for the surgery and so he took the opportunity to explore the city and get a good meal. I personally didn't want someone staring at me while I slept. The nursing staff was amazing and lots of people to take care of me. But I have a friend going after the first of the year and I will go with her and stay with her for the duration.

Nope. As soon as I was up from recovery my mom went home. The nurses take care of you and you will be busy eating and walking and sleeping lol