Preparing for Surgery when you have a family

[Rina5191 6]

I got my date for my surgery today. (12/20/17) I'm super excited, but now I have a million questions relating to preparing for after the surgery. How did those of you with a family prepare for it?I'm thinking about making a bunch of freezer meals for my family a head of time. I am a stay at home mom, so I handle most of the household activities. I love my husband to death, but he cant cook and stinks at cleaning. He also works 3rd shift, so he is sleeping most of daytime.. So anything I can do before the surgery would be helpful for him, Then of course Christmas is a few days after the surgery. Thankfully I don't cook for Christmas. So I don't have to worry about diner for my family for those two days. How long did it take for you parents to be able to get back to family tasks. For example cleaning, cooking, driving to activities, and other physical activities?

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

Driving - 1 week.

I am just today feeling some energy and surgery was Oct 24th, but I am a lot older than you, but raising 2 grandkids. I would enlist some family to help you out for 2 weeks. How old are the kiddos? Have them do dishes and fold laundry. I would make chili, and a couple casseroles, then keep it simple - crock pot meals plus salad. If no family can help - maybe find a high school girl to come after school. You will be restricted on lifting for about 6 weeks, nothing over 10lbs.

Your full time job will be to drink sips of liquid ALL DAY LONG, it is really easy to get dehydrated. I needed a nap everyday until this monday.

Good luck.

[dreamingsmall 1,125]

Who's going to help you and the kids when you first come home if he's sleeping? Is he having a few days off ?

[hmills653 365]

Freezer meals would be a great idea for the first week. If you have a stool or chair to put by the stove if you feel weak you should be fine. I was fine cooking pretty early on. It's just harder when you're on liquids and want to eat weekday you're cooking for everyone else. Crock pot dinners are good also and you can have some of the broth from whatever you make as well.

[hmills653 365]

Driving - 1 week.
I am just today feeling some energy and surgery was Oct 24th, but I am a lot older than you, but raising 2 grandkids. I would enlist some family to help you out for 2 weeks. How old are the kiddos? Have them do dishes and fold laundry. I would make chili, and a couple casseroles, then keep it simple - crock pot meals plus salad. If no family can help - maybe find a high school girl to come after school. You will be restricted on lifting for about 6 weeks, nothing over 10lbs.
Your full time job will be to drink sips of liquid ALL DAY LONG, it is really easy to get dehydrated. I needed a nap everyday until this monday.
Good luck.

Yes be careful, I had my daughter carry the laundry upstairs for me and I folded it, but soon learned the bending forward motion to get clothes from the basket made me really sore.

[ZinNH 173]

FreeZer meals are a great idea. My family lived on frozen pizza for the two days I was in the hospital. I felt great when I came home, and was able to get back to my regular routine right away. I had stocked up on groceries ahead of time so I wouldn’t have to do any heavy lifting.

after surgery, I prepared meals for them and made Soup for myself so we could all eat together. Hopefully your recovery will go quickly.

[Rina5191 6]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I'll keep them in mind. I was talking to my husband about what my restrictions will be. I planned to make meals ahead of time. My husband will be taking off some time off to help me and thankfully my daughter will been on vaction that week. My husband is determined to work around his schedule and do the cooking and cleaning. My daughter secretly asked me to make pre-made meals,lol. I know things will work out the first week and a half. After that things may be a but stressful for me. On top of parent and household duties, I am a girl scouts leader for 2 troops. So really I think I'm just going to have to learn to find tricks to do everything.

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[Diana_in_Philly 1,426]

Its not clear to me how many kids and what ages. My kids were 17 and 13 when I had my surgery, so they were pretty self sufficient. This was my experience -

Surgery Tuesday. Home Wednesday. Made dinner Friday. Did anything around the house that didn't involve lifting more than 10 pounds starting on Friday. Drove Friday. Went to gym to ride recumbent bike Saturday. So, they ordered out Tuesday night. Wednesday, my hubby grilled burgers for them. Thursday, one of the girls made spaghetti with a jar of Pasta Sauce from the grocery store.

Since school will be out, i would think your troops will not be meeting. you should have assistant troop leaders - tell them to plan something for that time because you will be recovering from a procedure if you are meeting between Christmas and New Year's.

I was back at work on Monday (I'm a desk jockey) and doing everything but laundry at home (I could switch stuff from washer to dryer and fold, but I couldn't carry up and down stairs) until I was cleared for lifting at 3 weeks out.

You probably don't need more than a couple of days of casseroles in the freezer. I was 55 when i had my VSG. It was way easier than either of the c-sections I had with my kids. Just sayin.

[Sullie06 1,013]

My kids were 1 and 3 when I had my surgery. In terms of cooking, freezer meals seems like a good option for you. Thankfully my husband has always done all the cooking because he's better at it then me and he doesn't mind doing it so he just cooked as usual.

In terms of household chores/tasks I would say by 2 weeks post op I was pretty much back to normal, albeit moving slowly. I work full time so I was back to work by 2 weeks post op so driving, chores, etc. we dove right back into our daily routine.

While I was in the hospital for the 2 nights my in-laws took my children that way my husband could spend time with me and get things prepared. When I came home, week 1, the kids went to daycare (my husband took them) and my mother stayed home with me and took care of me and did all the stuff around the house she could. Week 2 I was on my own but I was feeling much better by that time.