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Did you need help at home?



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Did you feel you needed help at home after surgery?

I dont plan plan on bringing a companion with me to surgery, and I wasn’t planning on having anyone stay with me to “look after” me. Did anyone do this and feel they needed help?

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I didn’t really need help after surgery. I did stay with my mom the first 2 weeks after but I didn’t need her help with anything. When I went back home my husband took over walking the dog since he pulls on the leash and I was still sore and weak.

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I had the house cleaned to within an inch of its life before surgery, and stocked up on stuff like toilet paper, paper towels, bottled Water, cat food and litter, etc. I had paper plates and plastic cutlery to use to cut down on dish washing. I have one of those robot vacuums, and knew she I could run her every day anyway. The rest of the family were on frozen dinners and take out for a while after - I didn't really care what they were eating, tbh, and they didn't starve. My husband had to do all the fetching and carrying for 2 weeks until I was cleared to drive - that was the toughest part actually, as he just assumed that I'd take the kids to all their appointments and activities because apparently I'm the default parent.

I barked orders at my daughters from the sofa a lot (12 and 11) - and if all else failed I would get up and painstakingly start to do things myself, and then the guilt would kick in and they'd do whatever needed done (esp laundry).

We muddled through - but prep was the key. I pre-bought everything I possibly could to stock up, and spent about a month before surgery de-cluttering the house to minimise the amount of cleaning that would need to be done.

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Yes, but I'm 54 and depending on your age and capabilities you will do fine.

My daughter stayed with me and helped cook for my husband, do laundry etc.

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No more than usual, Tomkitten and I did just fine. He did my fetching and toting, but since I already have shoulder restrictions anyway, he was pretty cheerful about it, he knows when you add things up it balances out, what he can't do I do in return.

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I didn’t need help, but it was nice to have.

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I've needed a bit of help to walk up the stairs to our front door the day I came home and to retrieve things fallen on the floor, but really everything else I could manage on my own from the outset. That said, I had prepped pretty well for my family and it's kind of nice being pampered a bit.

Sent from my SM-G960W using BariatricPal mobile app

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My mom came for the surgery and helped take care of my daughters so my husband didn't have to take 3 days off work while I was in the hospital. But once she got me home I didn't need assistance and she left early with my blessing.

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my husband was home that first week and it was great having him there to get things for me, etc, but I probably could have managed on my own if I had to. Other than it being sort of a struggle to get in and out of bed the first couple of days (very sore abs!), I got around OK and felt fine.

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I live alone. Stocked up on the things I thought I needed afterwards and did just fine. My brother provided transportation to and from surgery and would of helped if I had needed it but I was fine on my own. Never took pain meds so I drove pretty quickly. Anything I didn't feel like doing (housework, laundry) waited until I felt like it! I just concentrated on recovery and all went well!

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I didn't need help.

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My surgery is tomorrow and I have my husband, children, and mom. My insurance company offered to send a nurse if I wanted.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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