I amused myself after back surgery, until it was time for rehab, with hydrocodone, muscle relaxers and a tv set.
Don’t know if you can call it surgery, but while recovering from getting my wisdom teeth extracted I wrote my first full length screenplay. It was a great distraction, and I actually managed to finish it, the only one I’ve completed ever, so far. Took about four weeks to complete the first draft, I think.
Back in 95 I had a tumor removed, and it also involved removing a lymph gland in my left groin ‘armpit’ [I have no idea what the hell the body part is called, if it even has a name…] and had this huge dressing there [the incision was about 3.5 inches long, and about half an inch deep, and packed with gauze to start with] so sitting up was pretty much out. I was stuck laying in bed for 2 months total so mrAru scrounged an old AV cart and set up my Amiga 1000 on it. I could just manage to lay slightly propped up to play the games I had. [I had one D&D type RPG game, Leisure Suit Larry 1, and a whole bunch of arcade games. This was pre internet for us.]
I got good enough that I could play through the entire game in about 4 hours flat. I must have played it a couple hundred times.
Later, I ended up with pneumonia a few years later, and I played Eye of the Beholder 1 so much that for a while afterwards I could actually give people a walkthrough over the phone without even being in the game :smack: I found my discs for it a few years back and loaded it into the computer and was able to play it straight through with no mistakes. I still say the graphics for EOB1 are worlds better on the Amiga than PC.
I’ve had two ACLs and a PCL done and they never gave me any Percocet. 
For the ACL/PCL combo replacement I was laid up for 4 weeks. I read a lot of books. I had a whole stack lined up pre-op and another stack of movies to fill in the gaps.
Order and learn a few magic tricks you can practice while lying on the sofa.
Organize the family photo album.
Organize the family’s financial administration. Insurance, subscriptions…
See if your medical centre offershandy over bed tables for the bedridden, motorized chairs/beds, or rolling deck chairs on loan so you can go outside or even just move through the house. You may want to do so VERY much after you’ve spent a week inside.
If you are immobilized, chances are your spouse has to pick up so much slack in addition to the helping of you, (s)he might get overworked. Try to think of ways to either still help, or to organize to get help. For instance, make a schedule for friends and hired helpers to come down and help with the kids, the cleaning, and the cooking so your spouse can have some time to her/himself, too. Make it your duty to arrange and call these people.
I had surgery on my foot yesterday (arthrodesis of my right big toe) and will have to stay at home for 6-8 weeks.
I have one of these things so I can at least walk, but I get tired very very quickly.
I’ve stocked up on books and DVDs (I’ve sometimes jokingly added “and batteries” to that list but pain really is a mood killer ;)), I have internet access and if the weather gets a bit better I can sit on the balcony in the sun.
I will have friends come over and visit me and I will happily sleep a LOT.
I can’t say that I was looking forward to the surgery and the recuperation period but I’m determined to make the best of it and relax as much as I can.
Masturbating like a motherfucker.
I’ve never been laid up for all that long, so TV/books usually suffice.
You say you have a dog? How about one of these. Good exercise for the dog, fun for you to watch :).
Favorite comfort foods, oral sex, and a massage x2 daily!
Four weeks to recover from wisdom teeth extraction???!!!
I rarely get surgery, but I do get hospitalized now and then for things like cellulitis and MRSA and other problems. So here’s some things that I’ve done, mostly stuff that I’ve had to send my husband out for:
As mentioned, coloring books. And a brand new box of crayons works best. The BIGGEST BOX they have. There are huge books of what they call pencil puzzles, which have things like crosswords, word searches, crisswords, drawing a picture on a grid, with the mixed up picture in a smaller grid, and things like that. I like mechanical pencils for this, the lead is thinner and you don’t need a sharpener. Drawing stuff is harder with mechanical pencils, though. A pad of drawing paper and a “learn to draw” kit with various pencils and erasers and such are easy to pick up, you can add the colored pencils if you like. Take up origami. Any sort of needlework is good, with or without a TV or radio on. Some other crafts are also suitable. An ereader or tablet or laptop. Now is the perfect time to search Project Gutenberg for all those classics that you’ve been meaning to read someday. Small jigsaw puzzles are OK, but the larger ones won’t fit on your bedside/couchside table, and you have to move them for meals. Also, your lab might want to help you. How does your lab feel about laser pointers? Some dogs love them, and most cats love them.
I’m really surprised at the long recovery times listed here. In the Netherlands, coming back to work early, even if it is just to work “therapeutically” with a limb still in a cast, is encouraged. Doctors have a “try to get back to work and we’‘ll see if it doesn’'t work out”-attitude, rather then a “wait untill you’re completely healed and then jump back in fully”-approach.
When I had my (laproscopic) gatric bypass, I was home for a week. A friend of mine had breast cancer and came back during treatment. Wantign to come back is sort of expected.
Or is this one of those things where people with health insurance will finally take that much needed vacation (you people in the US have insanely little vacation time), while people without health insurance can’t afford to get sick, at all?
I found the pain medication made TV a lot more entertaining. I recall watching eight episodes of Hogan’s Heroes in a row.
I find watching an all day marathon of some program or another confusing and fun when slightly whacked on painkillers. With me, I will be awake only during parts of the programs so I get inadvertant rewrites of the episodes as I drift in and out of attention and start one episode, and fall asleep, am awake in part of another episode, fall asleep and wake up to catch the end of a third episode 
Well Friday came around pretty quickly, largely on account of wed/thur being a daze of meds as the nerve block wore off. Things feeling better and trying to ease off on the Percocet. Been working on the “paper” app for the ipad, it’s quite cool for sketching, really needs a pen though for best efforts.
Our youngest has decided sleeping on the couch with dad is the coolest thing ever, which is a little cosy, and fortunately he eventually decides his bed is more comfortable. The dog has figured if he lies on his back next to the sofa he can get 24/7 belly scratches , so he is sorted, and I guess belly scratching a dog is therapeutic.
The first post op bowl movement was tricky and could have been mistaken for a bit of avant-garde performance art.
I think I am angry birded out, os looking some of those other suggestions.
Checked my post history and I haven’t posted an insane med induced ranting screed so logging out of the dope was a good plan.
It totally depends on the person, the insurance, the employer, the surgery, and the amount of personal/vacation/sick time and the availability of short or long term disability.
My back surgery happened when I had great insurance and a pretty decent job along with 2 weeks of vacation time and enough short term disability. My boss told me not to come back until I could sit at my desk for at least an hour at a time. When I did go back, I would work for an hour and then do my PT in his office with the door closed then go back and work for an hour. Even then I wasn’t allowed to work more than 3 hours a day to start.
My arm surgery was a work injury and was a totally different situation. My employer’s workman’s comp insurance paid for the surgery and my lost wages. I was never able to go back to work so after 3 months we agreed that we’d part ways. If they had waited for me to be able to do the job again, they’d still be waiting (4 years later). My arm is great but not for that kind of work any more.
I’m still recuperating from a work-related accident back in March. It’s frustrating because there are days where I feel confident saying, “Yeah, I can go back now, no sweat!” Then there are days where I know I’d be asking for trouble if I actually did say that
Recuperation aside, it’s also been the longest stretch of time I’ve had to wait between doctor visits, scheduling a MRI, waiting until I’m strong enough to start PT, getting the MRI officially read, handling paperwork snafus, the whole shebang. I don’t ever remember things being so drawn out whenever I had short-term disability.
I remember the first time I went out after several weeks of post-op recovery. I was feeling pretty good and I went to the mall. But I was only able to walk halfway through the mall (a distance of maybe 200 yards) and I had to stop at a bench and rest.
I had my wisdom teeth pulled on my lunch hour, then went back to work. So what did you do the remaining 5 weeks, 6 days and 23 hours?
Anyway . . . I had open-heart surgery last August (aortic valve replacement and quadruple bypass). For the first several days home, all I wanted to do was sleep, not having gotten much in the hospital. After that, I did the same things I normally do at home: reading, watching tv, eating, waste time online, etc. Thanks to TCM, I was able to watch lots of great old movies.
We waited about 2-3 weeks to resume having sex. I really didn’t feel like it, but my partner insisted. We went very slow, until I was confident my heart wouldn’t explode.
The only thing that I hated was not being able to drive for 6 weeks. Even being driven, I still felt like a prisoner at home.