Things To Do When You're Recovering From Surgery

I used to really like jigsaw puzzles when I was a kid. I wonder if I can do them just with my left hand.

Read. Construct some kind of prop yoke and balance the book on it.
Learn or brush up on another language
Catch up with old mates on the phone
Paint with your left hand - very therapeutic in lots of ways.

Phone... that reminds me, I need to top up the credit on my mobile because otherwise I'm going to be stranded with no way of contacting the outside world.

Estonian!

Can you scroll and click with your left hand, so at least you can still read and surf online? Also (if so)--computer games--Scrabble at games.com or isc.org (?), literati at yahoo or any of the other yahoo games that might interest you. Learn to play Go if you don't know how already! It is addictive and takes some time and effort to learn, thus distracting you from pain, limitations, etc. Um, these recommendations are leaning heavily towards my interests... Jigsaw puzzles sound like a good idea. You'd get used to doing them with your left hand, I suspect, though it would be really frustrating initially. Your brain can rewire and learn all sorts of movement that doesn't seem natural--with musical stuff, you're probably able to do quite easily things that would be daunting to someone without the practice and skills.

Lots and lots of music. Books. Fingerpainting. Because it's silly and doesn't have to turn out well, because it's fingerpainting. Might be too messy though. Um. All I can think of for now...

xp. Learning a language is a great idea...

But anything computer oriented with lots of clicking or mouse-using is probably out. :-(

(you could rent a ton of stuff on DVD...that's what I do, and watch it all on my laptop)

Oh, I remember why I clicked this thread. There was a question asked by someone who was having some sort of surgery and was going to be bedridden or similar for six weeks (or something)--does anyone remember that one? No energy to search for it, but maybe it could be useful too.

i suppose i can technically still walk, although not very far or fast, so i should shut up, but one-handed typing is slow and annoying. AAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!

Hope you see this in time!

Recording the sound of your dreams sounds interesting indeed. I think I shall very well do that this afternoon.

And there's some giant glowing art installation in Dulwich Park this weekend. I think that would be fun on medication, as well. If I can find a bus which doesn't require me to go up stairs...

(someone's bound to know. my money's on William)

I don't understand why you didn't just say you enjoy movies and music. Do you want to go read in jail for a month or something?

Oh, how un-shocked are we that Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine is trying to hit up Nick Lachey's sloppy seconds — again. Well, we know he has a thing for blonds, so maybe Lindsay Lohan will give him a piece the next time she dyes her hair back.

Still, with any Page Six man-whore mention, we can't help but automatically think: Steve-O. So, what's going on? Could this be an all-out battle for the biggest dude slut in young Hollywood?

Hey, now that Colin Farrell is a) old and b) known to make sex tapes, even Paris Hilton won't go near him. So that leaves Adam and Steve-O, the drug dealing Jack-Ass, whose latest fling is Nicole Richie, to battle it out for the single gals sipping martinis at the Marmont.

We will definitely be following up with a full gossip round-up later today, in what is to be our first installment in Steve-O vs. A-Lev slut-a-thon. Send us your insider tips, if you got 'em. We just know in our hearts this is sure to be an American Idol worthy competition.

DUH.

Crutches vs. cane?

Thanks! Oxy sucks btw. This is a terrible reminder that even small indignities start to really tear you down; as surgeries go, this one was a starter kit but it's still wrecked me for the past week. just now where i can type for about an hour a day. prob should avoid ilx tbh.

You could use voice-to-text!

not really how i write; would need to relearn if it were a long term answer for sure. hoping i can drop the metal belt portion of the cast soon and that will allow easier keyboard access.

so this worked out pretty good right up to the point where I appear to have somehow strained or damaged something during the rehab and there's been an on and off (but like, almost entirely mostly on) muscle spasm going off around my left rhomboid. I am really hoping if I go a little easier on it and try to get back on a schedule, it'll pass. Until then, it's definitely keeping me up nights.

Feel better! Therapy sucks but your long term results are really determined in that first year post surgery. Listen to your therapist (if they are a good one) and don't try to do more or less even if you are feeling better or want to get better quicker (not suggesting this is what happened).

thanks! i think i'm just overshooting myself and it finally caught up. I'm going to take the next month and actively mindfully try to not use it the same way i was in the first month or two. It just feels so limiting. It IS so limiting!

So i'm doing this again tomorrow. same surgery as that wasn't strained, it was torn and now this is meant to provide a brief pause in pain until it rips again and we need to discuss shoulder replacement. wheeeeeeeeeee.
good thoughts are welcomed as I try to cope with going into the same thing all over again.

I’ll be thinking of you Forks. <3

Good luck, forks.

gl forks

Hope it went well <3

My wife is having surgery in two days to have a few reproductive organs removed (preventative measures). I've got FMLA thankfully, I think not doing things will be the hardest part for her (and having me do them may be even harder).

oxy is fkn terrible

Why? Never took it.

hang in there forks

ilx surgery szn, i am having surgery tomorrow also

Yup, 12/1 cancerous organ pull. 😕 ive had a fuckton of ortho procedures but those are usually not so scheduled and buildup-y. On the other hand, I’ve been through so many procedures, but I’m not too fazed, relatively speaking

Forks and Jordan, stay strong and im thinking of you all.

Forks and Jordan, stay strong and im thinking of you all.

Twice even.

Ah that second was for johnny crunch obv!

thx hunt3r... good luck to u, your sitch is the same as mine.. 1st time ever having surgery… @ least no real prolonged buildup for me, only confirmed this was nec’y from a biopsy 10 days ago~

Best luck all

my biopsies were so unpleasant i’m stoked to be ko’d tbh. Take good. Thx and take good care, johnny.

Take good care that is

It's ok I'll take some luck too. Best wishes y'all.

Best wishes all.

Backing you Forks, Jordan & Johnny. Sending heart.

made it thru & just ate three (3) jello squares

Congrats! I'll bet jello never tasted so good

Good to hear you made it through, johnny crunch.

great news, glad to see it.

i've never heard jello described as squarular, i think of it more cubular. hospital food, i tell u peeps.

We were at the hospital for 10 hours yesterday but everything ended up going well for my partner, thanks all. Happy recoveries.

happy to hear it.. best to u Jordan and wife !

oxy had me puking badly. tramadol makes me stupid but nausea is more under control. i'm a week out and going back to the doc for assessment this morning. it's been bumpy but mostly manageably so.
best wishes to all other ilxors navigating this system.

When I was in college, we used to order tramadol from these shady online sites and pop 4-6 of them at a time and take bongrips while listening to Low. The best sort of bad times.

oh geez i'm sorry to hear the oxy effect. keep on. i don't have other comment than to say i avoid opioids due to previous puke-fests too. don't recall if i've had tramadol sounds enticing.

It is a bummer to have a bad reaction to opioids— I truly can't imagine having gone through surgery without them.

Hunt3r, tramadol works okay but I mean that in the truest sense of the word— it dulls the experience of the pain, but the pain is still kind of there. At least from my experience.

that seems about right to me? currently dealing with some pretty serious anxiety and stomach stuff that I'm wondering is connected to usage after a week, but it may just be standard freakout. doc gave me three more weeks in a brace which i cant sleep or work in so i am fairly aghast

Oof, please take care forks. Hope you get to a place where you can rest.

Strength to you forks, glad to hear youre enduring over the stress. Gws.

oof, forks, please take care.

finally reached the part of the healing process where i start screaming angrily "BE NICE TO ME" at my partner
we're both exhausted and i'm not handling super well

what a fuckin' month!

Sorry to hear! I remember those when I was recovering from surgery. Lots of tears, I also nearly broke my phone a number of times from throwing it across the room in frustration

it is not fun! i am much diminished and frustrated by the presumptions of all nearby that since i'm awake and answering emails i am probably fine. definitely not fine, but daddy's gotta pay the rent.

I went back to work teaching undergrads only ten days after I had major surgery. My mom had to drive me to work for the first three weeks of the semester because my partner was working at the same time, and I literally couldn't sit up properly to drive without being in massive amounts of pain. It was a truly weird beginning to the 2019-2020 school year, which just got weirder as time went on lol.

So far: watch lots of prev unwatched shit from the 2010s, play with cats, wash catheter bags. This one is painful enough that just staying lying down is pretty nice.

in ongoing body horror updates, a weird nubbin of stitch located in my underarm that had been jabbing me in the side and occasionally even waking me up, just popped out of the scar like it had somewhere to be. I still can't raise my arm beyond 70 degrees or so but this represents a big leap forward in my well being.

it's the little things that count!

Nubbin repairs 4 U

imagine having a big splinter in your underarm that jabs you in your side all day every day for a month. that nubbin was a real thorn.