I had a surgery yesterday that has me down and out for a while. Any recommendations on how to spend my time? I have books & Sims games to keep me occupied as well
Depends on the surgery. Do they want you to take it easy or do they want you active. Then you have surgeries where they want you to do both—for instance, with heart surgeries you cannot push off of anything, lift anything over 10 pounds for several weeks but they want you walking and moving as much as possible.
So it depends on the surgery.
If you are able to laugh without pain and without damaging what you had surgery on, there are a lot of comedy shows on Netflix.
My gentle time passers are crochet and gaming, specifically game writing and designing.
When I’m in a recovery phase, but unable to sleep because of pain/anxiety, I always have a semi-mindless, repetitive task (either working on a blanket or data entry) because of those two things.
Or heck, get back into the lost art of long conversations.
Basically, for me, if I find myself consuming passively (binging movies or television, surfing social media) I do my best to snap out of it and start creating.
Crochet, games, and long talks happen to be my medium.
If you need a pen pal or long conversation buddy, feel free to reach out. I’m always happy to make new friends and learn new things.
Heal well, remember that rest is fundamental to recovery, but so is ice cream.
A few years back, I had both knees replaced. One thing that helped was I downloaded an app called Friended. I would chat with different people. Also watched TV and just talk to people.
@BoomerSpooner i can’t pull, push, or lift more than 5 pounds. Similar to heart surgery
Crosswords. Jigsaws. I am more into Civilization and WoW but my daughter loves Sims.
I had spine surgery last year, hopefully you have a better support system than I do! If it wasn’t for my dogs, cannabis oil, tv, and a good therapist, I don’t know what I would’ve done.
@simsaddict First, find a medical supply place that rents lift chairs—when I had open heart surgery it was a godsend. If you have insurance they will cover the rental. It was 200 for the month for one, they delivered it, set it up and picked it up when I was done. They are so plush that I slept in mine.
Activities: you can get real tired of tv, books and computers pretty quick. I did stuff like really complex jigsaw puzzles and starting herbs indoors, but my biggest distraction was walking and upping the ante each day on distance, frequency and pace.
Actually the kidney surgery I had as a kid in 1971 was the roughest because, well, I was 9 and in the hospital for a month.
sounds like you need a cuddle!
I'm an avid reader, so that's always my to go to. 😅
In lieu of cat videos and funny memes, I would do some productive stuff, digitally...
Brainstorm your goals for the year, big or small, then break them down into weekly habits so you're actually incorporating them into your routine.
If there's someone you have unresolved trauma or pain from, alive or dead, try writing them a letter, expressing your feelings and the results of their actions. It's for you, you don't need to send it.
Look up new recipes and actually add the ingredients to your grocery list.
Organize the files on your computer. Don't do this for too many hours at once or you may start seeing rainbows. 🤭 It happened to me...
Design a memory book on Shutterfly of some special time in your life, or of your friend circle, or of your own photography, a pet, etc.
Try your hand at writing a children's story. Just pick an animal and start without thinking, and see where it goes. Make sure you're in a happy state of mind, for this one.
Okay, now I kinda wanna go try all my ideas... 😂
~ Sunset Snuggles
Fabulous ideas everyone! Except the cuddling one lol no offense. I can’t do much, so jigsaws are a fantastic idea!! @SunsetSnuggles i am loving your idea too!!
Thank you!
I remember ‘The Urbz: Sims in the City’ on the Nintendo DS (and consoles: Xbox/PS2/GameCube - though they are different games than their handheld counterparts) being really fun if you hadn’t played that one.
I had open heart surgery last year that came with a hell of a recovery and similar restrictions. My favorite past time was time travel. It's pretty easy. Just close your eyes when you're tired. You'll be in the future soon enough.
@GrayKunz What kind of open heart surgery? Mine was caused by a kidney medication I was on since childhood.
@simsaddict Laughter is the best medicine. Ice cream and standup comedy.
Lots.
@BoomerSpooner
A good ol' quadruple bypass. I've also had major kidney issues since my early 20s. I believe I had every single kidney stone surgery from a lithotripsy to a PCNL (second worst surgery after the bypass).
@GrayKunz Ditto on the quadruple. You can relate then to post surgery sneezes being like the guy that hatched the alien over spaghetti in Alien. It feels like everything is going to spill out.
And yes kidney stones are awesomely painful. I tried to pass one on my own during college because I didn’t want to miss finals. I passed out in the bathroom and my girlfriend at the time found me and took me to the emergency room. Fast forward a few years later and I was dating a daughter of an MD who told me stones are no big deal. Karma is very much a ruthless energy—he got stones a year later, was rushed to the hospital and was crying and demanding specialists and everything else. My GF told me I better not say a word even though she was smirking herself. He was an a-hole. I could tell you stories forever about him. He actually did a procedure on me when I was a kid (I didn’t know him or his daughter at the time) and he openly talked about his tee time in a couple of hours, told the corpsman I didn’t need stitches on the wound and I wound up in the hospital 48 hours later with gangrene. The wound was in my leg and it was about four inches long and deep because it was from being spiked while playing baseball my junior year of HS and a large clot had formed and he removed it. There was a reason he was a military doctor.
Yes. Coughing and sneezing is the worst. Sometimes you can't grab your heart pillow fast enough.
Btw, I have a hard time believing an MD didn't know how painful stones were. What a tool. I've spoken to mothers with kidney stones that would rather birth another child.
My last kidney stone adventure was with a couple staghorn stones in my right kidney. One was 13mm and the other was 15mm. This took multiple surgeries to clear and my left developed stones in the midst of all that. The left stones came with an infection, so I also needed to use a nephrostomy bag and antibiotics before they could remove those.
No kidney issues since my bypass. The bypass helped stabilize my BP, which was averaging 210/130 before. I'm not a doctor, but I'm sure those two issues were linked.
@GrayKunz Oh yeah they are.
I totally understand the sneezing! For me, I tend to jolt myself awake every night just as I fall asleep, every time it was the worst pain ever!
I didn’t have my ribs cut open, but I did get 2 cages, 2 rods, and 6 screws in my lower spine.
@matt462 That’s a lot of nerves though. I had extreme nerve damage on my left side after surgery so I can’t imagine what a spine would be like. The sneezes and coughs really hurt me because as @GrayKunz can attest, you are on life support during heart surgery as they actually take your lungs out during surgery. Mine wound up being a 14 hour surgery because my left lung collapsed and the stay in ICU before going back to the cardio ward went from 24 to 48 hours to five days because I couldn’t blow that stupid ball in the oxygen meter high enough to be discharged from ICU because of the collapsed lung. 😖😖😖
Nothing to include that hasn't been said... Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Write a novel. Not for publication particularly, just for amusement.
Spend plenty of time looking out of the window. This has multiple benefits.
Go to ChatGPT, tell it to roleplay your favorite TV/Movie character, then argue with it.
I agree with @CharlesInWI, ice cream. Eat ice cream every day, it's medicine you know!!1
Tik Tok and muscle relaxers
@simsaddict Many years ago i had a surgery with the same restrictions. It was before internet and computers, no cell phones etc. I’m sure I painted and read. But check this out… Happy Color app. I use this for a while every day or night when I start to overthink and worry and it makes me very sleepy! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/happy-color-art-coloring-book/id1407852246
Journal every day about your healing experience. Later you may wonder about details you have forgotten but you would have a record that way. Or write your life story just for yourself and people you trust.
Buy some bubble wrap and pop it with your fingers. It's fun and kind of zen. Give yourself a hand massage.
Look at your school yearbooks and of course all your photos.
Do a very simple cross stitch. Buy a small kit with large Aida fabric so the tiny stitches don't make you crazy.
Have a speedy recovery.