5 days out and worried about port...

thelonedaisy · August 2, 2008

i am 5 days out of surgery and now that i am getting more active gettting up and down doing the laundry dishes playing with the kids and what not.

i am a bit worried that i could harm or push my port aside..

i realize this is probably all in my head but well you know.

what have all of you been doing after surgery does life just go on normal?? or do you take thigs a little easy for a few weeks and i have 5 children so taking it easy isnt really in my repetoure

Edited August 2, 2008 by thelonedaisy

kyakdreamer · August 2, 2008

great question. I was wondering the same thing. I had surgery 7/25 and am feeling better but afraid of messing things up by overdoing it. My doc. said not to lift anything over 10 pounds for about 6 weeks. I look forward to responses to your question. Thanks for posting it

thelonedaisy · August 2, 2008

bumping for evening readers

thelonedaisy · August 3, 2008

bumping for late nighters!!!

please this is a question i truly need an answer to..

and i am obviously not the only one.

Fanny Adams · August 3, 2008

Well I don't have little kids, so I didn't have to face the problem of whether or not to pick them up every day, but I do have small grandchildren and I know I held off from doing that for a couple of weeks. When I wanted to cuddle, I would sit down and get them on my lap, rather than bend over and pick them up. Not sure if this is an option for you, but I think you should try to take it easy as far as you can.

They say you can be back at work within a week, and if you are not doing a physically demanding job, that's probably true. However, it will take several weeks before you are FULLY healed, even if most of the pain and swelling has gone fairly quickly. I'd give myself the best possible chance to heal properly by taking it easy on anything that will stress the abdomen for at least 4 weeks or so. If that's not always possible, just be as careful as you can be and take things slowly.

Mrs J.J · August 3, 2008

Your port is attached to your stomach muscle by stitches. These stitches still need to heal. I don´t know if it can be bumped out of place that easily, but if you think of a cut that has been stitched up and if you pull on it, you may dislodge the stitching. Personally I would wait a week or so until you know for sure that the stitching would have healed and your port is securely attached to your muscle.

When I was driving with my husband, I held the seat belt away from my port in case he had to brake suddenly, I was also so scared of damaging my port.

Hope this helps a bit.