Surgery planned 2-3 weeks, whirlwind of a week

Hi, fingers crossed everything goes well!

I can only speak from my own experience, but these are some things that I found helpful:

In hospital:

- peppermint tea (good for bloating after laparoscopic surgery)

- chewing gum (to get the bowels moving again)

- hot water bottle (for pain/bloating)

- numbing throat spray

- nightdress (you'll probably have a catheter on night one)

- slippers/dressing gown (you will probably walk to theatre from the ward)

At home:

- wedge shaped pillow (struggled to lie flat for a good few weeks afterwards and this made things a bit easier)

- stretchy leggings (any tight waistbands made me feel really bloated and uncomfortable, this lasted a good couple of months)

- face wipes (bending over the sink to wash was another unexpectedly sore activity)

- toilet wiping stick (it's not glamorous, and thankfully only required for a short time, but twisting is really sore afterwards!)

I'm sure others will add in some things that helped/didn't help for them that I've missed. The general feeling from being on this forum is often that it's not as bad as you think it will be, but the recovery process is long and slow. Stick with the physio exercises, and try to do daily walks, but don't push too hard or people tend to crash.

Hope this helps, good luck with everything!