I approached my surgery two years ago very much like I would go about planning a holiday. I wrote a list of what to bring, I arranged a lift to and from the hospital, I did a lot of research, and asked lots of questions about what my operation and hospital stay would be like.

However, as organised as I thought I was, I realised that most of my focus was on the surgery itself. I knew what was next from a medical standpoint, as before being discharged I was informed about the physical therapy I would need to undertake, prescribed the required medicine, and given a date for my follow up appointment.

But I realised that actually there were a number of factors that I should also have considered and planned beforehand to help me get more comfortable and feel more prepared, both in hospital and on my return home.

So when I had a second surgery recently, I used these insights that I had learnt the first time around, and they proved to be incredibly helpful. Here are my top ten tips that helped me during my post-surgery recovery:

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10 POST SURGERY RECOVERY TIPS

1. If you have medicine that you already take, write down the time of day you take each tablet and put this with your medication in a container or bag so that you can easily hand this over to the nurses with all the information they are likely to require.
2. Rather than having one big holdall or suitcase, I took two smaller bags. One bag had the more essential things that I needed during the day when I was in hospital after surgery and the nurse placed this on the edge of my bed so that I could easily reach what I needed.
3. I was surprised at how difficult I found it to get comfortable in the car on the journey back after surgery. We had to stop several times to adjust my seat just so I could settle into a position that was relatively comfortable and didn’t put any strain on my stitches. So I considered this before my second surgery and this made the journey home better.
4. Plan the things you’ll need most around the house before you get home. After my operation I could not lean down or stretch to reach something from a height. Having things at waist height and close by to my bed and sofa made things a lot easier.
5. For me personally, I underestimated just how exhausted I would feel. I knew how important it was to not overdo it, but I hadn’t expected to feel so exhausted from doing even the smallest tasks. I learnt quickly the importance of not trying to do more than I was ready for. My surgeon had given me a timeframe for how long I should try to walk for and when to increase my exercises, and I made sure to not be tempted to think I could do a lot more than this.
6. I found putting post it notes up reminding me when to take my tablets, or what exercises I needed to do really helped.
7. Knowing who to contact if you are worried about pain or something else post-surgery is something to also have ready. This may be the ward, your surgeons’ secretary, or your GP. You may have had emails with the relevant contact details, or these may be on your discharge notes. Have these somewhere ready so you are not searching for who to contact if you need it.
8. As someone that struggles with my mental health, I found that not being able to do too much affected my mood after my first operation. That’s why after my recent surgery, I had lots of podcasts downloaded, magazines and books at the ready, and I arranged for friends to visit, to keep my mind occupied.
9. Try to minimise stress, especially as you will have more time to dwell on what is bothering you. Having things like childcare sorted beforehand will really help. Have a backup plan too as things can change for others.
10. I also found that having things to look forward to after my recovery gave me something to focus on. Staring at an empty calendar was not what I wanted to see!

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While these might seem like quite minor things, I found it really helped me and minimised any additional stress and discomfort and put my focus solely on recovering from surgery.

All content in this blog is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. The content intends to explore the topic of injury only, and has not been verified as the specific cause of any individual injury. The full blog disclaimer can be found here.