By Sandi Henderson

Your first week recovering from surgery is full of new experiences.  You may feel pretty good and be able to walk around with no problems, get in the fluids your doctor recommends, and be wondering why you have to take it easy.  Or, you could be very sore, in pain, not hungry, not wanting to drink fluids and wondering if your decision to have surgery was a good one.

Either way, take out your doctor's instructions and start following them.  Here is one patient's experience of what recovery at home looked and felt like:

"First full day at home.  Pouring a couple of ounces of protein drink into a cup, sipping it slowly, then getting up and getting some more.  I'm walking around the inside of my house every time I get up.  This gets me moving and keeps me drinking protein.  It also keeps me from dying of boredom.  Every third or fourth time up, I get water.  I have to try to get down forty grams of protein and sixty four ounces of water or tea or broth.  This is not easy but if I keep at it, I may actually make it to the goal.

I decided not to sleep in my bed because getting up and down from the bed hurts too much.  I am sleeping and sitting in my recliner which is the perfect position not to stress my port area, which, aside from the gas pains in my shoulder, is the only place that actually hurts when I move.

Hope I don't have to sit around like this for very long.  Sleeping in the recliner at night presents its own challenge.  I have to remember where I am when I wake up, then think about what I have to do to actually get my 400 pounds out of the chair without it hurting.

Still taking pain meds."

The important points are to remember to:

• Drink fluids - don't allow yourself to dehydrate;
• Drink protein as permitted by your doctor;
• Move as much as you can without getting overtired;
• If lying down flat hurts, try a recliner or propping yourself up in bed;
• Most of all, remember that if you are uncomfortable, this period of pain and discomfort is short lived and you will soon be on your way to recovery and your new life.

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