When Do You Start To Feel Better.

When do you start to feel less pain and feeling better what are the worst days after surgery.

Hi,

Week two to three seems to be the worst weeks, as the anesthesia and pain meds wear off, internal sutures start to dissolve, and nerves start to regenerate. During those weeks, you're getting tired of the restrictions, and may be tempted to do too much, which doesn't help either. Usually though, each week you'll feel about 10% better.

To see a general timeline of recovery, check out my journal. The link is to the left here below my surgery date. In my journal, I detail what I was able to do each week and my pain levels for those weeks.

To be honest, I never felt really horrible, except for my second night in the hospital, which was pretty miserable. But I was surprised at how good I felt and how well I was able to get around. I was up most of the day in my recliner on my laptop computer, and could make simple meals for myself, walk to the mailbox to get the mail, and starting at week 3, I was going out for short car rides and lunch with my mom or friends.

Of course, we're all individuals, and your experiences may not be the same as mine. You may find recovery easier or more difficult than I did. It's important to remember though that those weeks you're recovering are just a short period of time out of your life. Just hang in there, you'll be through and on the "better" side before you know it.

s,

Lisa

I started to feel betterish around the 10 week mark....I did have a few complications so had to resign myself that I was put back a feww weeks......

Some people just take longer to heal...one of them being me, but try to take each day as it comes. Oh, and see when your doctor says it is ok to say Multi-vitamins........I started taking them about 4 weeks ago and it has perked me up a bit.........

Joan.

The third week was the worse for me - I came of the pain meds really badly - they tried to switch me from one med to another which made me sick. I finally went cold turkey for a day - not fun and then just took non-prescription tylenol so I could sleep at night.

During those first two weeks I basically laid around, watching TV, sleeping and getting use to eating regular food. The first BM is also not fun - take the ducalax!!!!

After I made it to the third week (and I must qualify this - I went to my parents at the beach on my four week anniversary) I was feeling much better. I started to drive which was amazing!!! And doing some things like making my own food and taking longer walks (it was easier to do this at the beach than in the city where I live.)

I must say that the first two weeks were not bad and the third week I only had one really bad day which was the cold turkey day off the meds. I didn't try to think about too far ahead during it all - I took pleasure in being able to do little things - like go to the bathroom on my own the first night I was home, or get up out of bed without showing everyone everything under my nightgown. One step at a time was how I looked at it and they were all victories!

Hang in there and think good thoughts!
Cat