Lists

Supplies After Surgery

• Quilted underpads for car, chair,  bed, just in case
• Disposable underwear/ adult diapers
• Incontinence pads
• Gauze
• Medical tape
• Alcohol wipes or cotton balls and a bottle of alcohol 
• Acetaminophen for pain
• Lots of soup and soft food til your bowels return to normal.
• Comfortable chair with footrest or a recliner 
• Clear path through house
• Books, tablet, tv all easily accessible 
• Large glass to hold plenty of water
• Grabber in case you drop something bending down isn’t easy.

Simplify Diaper Changes

When your adult diaper is full (no I’m not pooping in them) the ritual of taking off your pants starts all over again. If you use an incontinence pad you can change that out and extend the lifetime your diaper. This is needed because the urethra will have both urine leakage and discharge since there is a foreign body in you. My leakage was much more than expected and I have been going through 2 or 3 pads a day and one overnight.

You might want your first package of diapers to be a size larger than needed, since your abdomen will still be swollen from inflation after surgery. The more room you give your bowels the better you’ll feel and the quicker bowel movement’s will return to normal.

Miscellaneous Tips

• Ensure that the place you sit doesn’t dig into your legs to prevent blood clots.
• Ensure the place you sit allows you to stretch your abdomen.
• Stand strait, the more you stand strait, the sooner the tightness goes away. Being hunched forward only makes both your back and front hurt.
• Ensure you don’t snag the drain tube. It won’t come out easily, but it very uncomfortable when it tugs.
• Take pain medication before it’s unbearable. The less pain, the more relaxed and better your recovery.
• Top up soap dispensers/ensure you have soap. You’ll need to be very good about washing your hands after messing with your urine bag to avoid infection.

Pain Medication

• Everyone’s pain tolerance is different. I’ve got a fairly high pain tolerance, which explains why I’ve gotten by with acetaminophen.
• Avoid the narcotics since they make it hard to poop. But don’t skip the medicine you need to be comfortable and rest.
• Don’t tough out the pain, if you’re miserable the healing process is impacted. You need to be able to rest and sleep to improve.
• If I start hurting bad enough, ill take the narcotic, but I’ve got too much problem with getting regular. Once I’m regular, it’s like clockwork. Until then it’s very frustrating.

More Quick Tips

• Know your limitations and when you need a break, take one. You may just suddenly run out of steam and need a nap.
• Rub your belly gently with just the weight of your hands. It feels good, relaxes you, and promotes bowel movement. Do counterclockwise motions. Adjust your garments to ensure your bowels aren’t restricted.
• Have paper towels ready. You will get pee on you when you switch out to the leg bag and back to the big bag. 
• Hold your abdomen, really just rest your hands against it in the car and it will minimize the vibrations from the road that cause your insides to slosh around. You don’t really feel it until you’ve had holes poke clear through your abdominal wall.

Even More Quick Tips

• One should probably trim their pubic hairs prior to surgery. They should be short enough to not reach the tip of your penis. I didn’t even think about this, and no one suggested it. Mine keep matting up in the discharge from my penis.
• You drain tube wound could weep for a long time. Also other incisions might start weeping. You’ll need to keep them clean and covered with a dry bandage until they seal up. Stock up on alcohol wipes and 2″x2″ gauze pads. The wipes come in boxes of 100 and pads in boxes of 25 at the big name chain store. I got two boxes of alcohol wipes and 2 boxes of gauze. I used up some gauze pads my son had and half the 1st box of the two I bought by day 12 post-op.