dVH/RALH: Surgery Friday the 13th--what are most important last minute prep items??

Hi! I am having my hysterectomy on Friday the 13th (glad I'm not superstitious!). Since I have to do the bowel prep on the 12th (not looking forward to it...) I realize that I only have 2 days left to get things in order!

I feel like there is so much to do to get things in order, but I am sure I am overthinking things. I have help lined up, but will I need to have someone around the whole day for the first few days? Weeks? (hubby will be at work M-Fri during the day).

For the Post-Op folks, what would you say are the most important tasks to have completed before surgery???

Are the NoRinse items a good idea? And a Reacher?

Thank you SO much!!

Check out - the Hints from Members section. It's full of great tips.

I had my Davinci hysterectomy yesterday, came home today. I am moving around really well, just tenderness. I made sure I cooked up some meals and put in the freezer before I went to the hospital. My husband put tea in a smaller container for me so I won't have to lift the heavy tea pitcher. I will be at home by myself tomorrow. I am finding that my body pillow feels really good when I lay down. Be sure to take plenty of Gas-X with you to the hospital and take it to prevent gas pain. It really wasn't that bad, the worse part was having a catheter in when I woke up and most of the day. As soon as they took it out, I was able to get up and go to the bathroom and felt much better. Good luck to you!

I was pretty much up and moving the first day after I got home from hospital. I did want someone around, just in case something went wrong. It looks as though you'll have your hubby for the weekend, and that should be enough for you to figure out how you're doing.

Make sure you'll be able to get food and drinks for yourself. I spent most of the first day in bed or on the couch, but otherwise I didn't do too bad. I had problems reaching up and bending down the first few days, so try to have essentials at waist height, if you can. For example, the gallon jugs of milk in the bottom drawer were too heavy for me and needed too much bending. A smaller bottle on a higher shelf would have been OK.

My main thing was to make sure I had all the meds needed (GasX, stool softener, prescriptions from the doctor). I tend to also be rather forgetful about when I took pain pills. Writing it down might have helped. I asked hubby to take charge of giving me meds, but he wasn't really very good at it.