Susan's Place Transgender Resources

So, as I'm preparing for my surgery, I'm trying to think of things to do during recovery other than video games—my dad's pretty restricting of television use during the day in the summer, since it heats up the house, which I get. I like to draw, but those first few days I doubt I'll be able to. So what have some of you guys done to occupy your time? I will have access to a laptop and Android phone, so I will have some electronics at my disposal, but I guess I'm kind of looking for stuff besides that to do.

I posted in another thread that I had a weird sleep schedule going on. I'd basically wake up, have a snack, drink some water, use the restroom, do some sort of activity until I got tired again, and sleep for a few hours. Wake up and repeat, for the entire week. At night sometimes I'd sleep longer. I was probably awake for up to 5 hours at a time at most. It worked out great.

I had a few different things around for when I was awake. I did play a lot of video games. I made it through a few seasons of a TV show. I read two books on my Kindle. Played around online, Skyped with long distance friends.

I also broke the rules and walked my dog. I have a waist leash, so no stress on my arms/shoulders/chest but I could see how it might be too much for some people. Personally, I think it was good to get up and out of the house at least a little bit. Even if you have somebody there taking care of you, try to get up and walk around the house as much as you can. You will feel much better in the long run.

Thanks for the input, Max! I'm thinking I might take up a good book series and see how far I can get in 'em... A Song of Ice and Fire series is pretty much first on my list. I've always liked personal study time too, so I was thinking about improving upon my Spanish while I'm down, since I'm going into college as a Spanish minor. I'd actually be cool with a weird sleep schedule like you had, since it might let me play some video games at night if I wake up restless.  :D

A song of ice and fire will definitely keep you occupied. That series is phenomenal, I'm on my third read-through.

Honestly, I pretty much played video games, read, watched history channel and movies. But I own my own place so no one told me what I could or couldn't do.

You could rent movies to stream on your laptop or phone.

Price Is Right, History Channel, Netflix, nature documentaries, computer games, eating..

Sounds like History Channel is a big winner, too bad we don't have cable  :D. Once I can get upstairs and into my room, the TV won't really be a problem since mine keeps cooler; how hard was it to go upstairs those first couple days, if you guys even tried?

When the nurse went over some of the stuff when I was in recovery she told me that walking around is necessary after surgery. She told me to walk around a little bit when I got back to my hotel room. I walked around every few hours that I could. I recommend buying yourself a pair of compression socks (I got mine on Amazon $23 Vitalsox) So when you do lay down you still have something to help prevent blood clots. I also wore these for surgery too since I only needed to take off my shirt. They are pretty damn comfortable in my opinion.

When I got home which was my 2nd day after surgery I was able to walk up and down stairs pretty easily. The only hard part is getting yourself out of bed. You need to use your stomach muscles and not your arms to get up.

I went for short walks two or three times a day just to get out of the house and get my body moving.  Friends came over to visit and play games like Monopoly and Scrabble, people took me out for dinner, and I did a few jigsaw puzzles.  I had very little pain, so I was not really laid up more than a day or two, but...the limited range of upper body motion was a killer for me in terms of what activity I could do to pass the time. 

Quote from: HeyTrace19 on July 15, 2015, 11:31:20 AM
I went for short walks two or three times a day just to get out of the house and get my body moving.  Friends came over to visit and play games like Monopoly and Scrabble, people took me out for dinner, and I did a few jigsaw puzzles.  I had very little pain, so I was not really laid up more than a day or two, but...the limited range of upper body motion was a killer for me in terms of what activity I could do to pass the time.

Yeah that last bit is my bigger concern, that a lot of the things I enjoy doing are pretty much on hold for a while. I'll be really glad when I can at least get back to running and cycling (whenever that is) but I know that's gonna be a while, so sedentary activities it is for me.  :)

Quote from: AndrewB on July 14, 2015, 08:28:43 PM
how hard was it to go upstairs those first couple days, if you guys even tried?

I didn't have any pain - I was sore, but never in what I would call pain. So perhaps take my responses with a grain of salt and go easy on yourself.

But I was fine going up and down the stairs multiple times the day after surgery. My bedroom is upstairs and the jerk extremely helpful person that was supposed to be taking care of me basically just dropped me off at home and left me to my devices. So I made a few trips up and down to change clothes, get stuff I hadn't pre-staged in the living room (pillows and blankets mostly), and play on my desktop computer that's in there. No issues whatsoever, but I did go slow just in case.

I seem to recover very slowly from even minor injuries so I expect to be off work for at least a month. Aside from lots of walking and viewing I plan to get my ass in gear to do some of the things people should do but don't get around to. I'll get my advance directive in place so no one tries to keep me alive in a vegetative state in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury (I'd rather die). I need to take care of some financial planning that's been put off. I've got lots of pictures that need labeling/tagging. Edit some videos. Sort through my closets to get rid of clothes that won't fit anymore. Have some fun in the kitchen again because I won't be getting home at 9pm. Write letters to politicians about trans issues instead of just clicking on petitions.

Getting up and down stairs was not an issue at all for me, my issue was our bed is very tall so getting into and out of that would not have been possible without using my upper body. So I stayed downstairs on a reclining couch. But to go upstairs itself was no big deal.

If you set yourself up with something to sit on that is easy to get in and out of, that should not be a problem.

Quote from: Dex on July 16, 2015, 03:36:43 PM
Getting up and down stairs was not an issue at all for me, my issue was our bed is very tall so getting into and out of that would not have been possible without using my upper body. So I stayed downstairs on a reclining couch. But to go upstairs itself was no big deal.

If you set yourself up with something to sit on that is easy to get in and out of, that should not be a problem.

I actually have this big, comfy computer chair that I'm thinking will be my main area of operation when I'm upstairs. It swivels, so I can be at the computer or use the TV/xbox without ever getting up. Sounds like recovery heaven, for me!

Sounds perfect! Now you just need food brought to you and you'll be set!

I was just thinking I spent a lot of my recovery time stressing out and trying to get my insurance to pay for my damn surgery. My surgeon is about 3 hours away (because of traffic..if I go early enough about 1 1/2 or 2 hours) and my insurance company (Cigna) keeps sending me forms that the surgeon needs to fill out. They have known about my surgery since April 1st.. why couldn't they send me this crap before I went to surgery????? Hopefully I can have this horse sh** done next week :p

Quote from: RaptorChops on July 17, 2015, 11:10:46 AM
I was just thinking I spent a lot of my recovery time stressing out and trying to get my insurance to pay for my damn surgery. My surgeon is about 3 hours away (because of traffic..if I go early enough about 1 1/2 or 2 hours) and my insurance company (Cigna) keeps sending me forms that the surgeon needs to fill out. They have known about my surgery since April 1st.. why couldn't they send me this crap before I went to surgery????? Hopefully I can have this horse sh** done next week :p

Yikes! Luckily my surgery is covered and is being performed by an in-house surgeon, so I should be able to relax on that front. All I have is a little co-pay to hand over the day of my surgery. Hope you get your situation sorted out though, post-op should not be a time for extra stress!

You're very lucky and I agree my time should have been spent recovering instead of stressing. I think they make it difficult on purpose so that you give up and say screw it so they don't have to pay you :P.

I've never heard of an In-house surgeon.. Is that someone who comes to your house in scrubs and tools and does your surgery there???

Quote from: RaptorChops on July 17, 2015, 12:02:17 PM
You're very lucky and I agree my time should have been spent recovering instead of stressing. I think they make it difficult on purpose so that you give up and say screw it so they don't have to pay you :P.

I've never heard of an In-house surgeon.. Is that someone who comes to your house in scrubs and tools and does your surgery there???

By in-house I meant that my insurance provider is also my medical provider, they have their own buildings, care facilities, etc., all under the Kaiser Permanente insurance company. My surgeon is at one of these facilities, so basically the surgeon works for the insurance company at this hospital.

Ahhh I gotcha. That's actually really cool wish my insurance did that. I was kind of scared for you for a moment because I was like.. uhhh no way would I let a doctor do a surgery in my dirty ass bed room ;p

Quote from: AndrewB on July 13, 2015, 08:20:05 PM
So, as I'm preparing for my surgery, I'm trying to think of things to do during recovery other than video games—my dad's pretty restricting of television use during the day in the summer, since it heats up the house, which I get. I like to draw, but those first few days I doubt I'll be able to. So what have some of you guys done to occupy your time? I will have access to a laptop and Android phone, so I will have some electronics at my disposal, but I guess I'm kind of looking for stuff besides that to do.

You can probably forget being able to do anything meaningful the first couple of days because you will spend most of your time sleeping/resting because your body will be really tired and need the rest to recover from the surgery.

Outside of sleeping/resting, talking to people you know, read books, listen to music, that kind of stuff. Maybe do some leg exercises because it's not so good to lie down and not move.

Very interesting thread.  I personally didn't really need any recovery time.  I would say within 3 days I was pretty much back to my normal routine.  My surgery was on a Monday and certainly by Friday I was back to normal.  I wasn't doing pull-ups and push-ups but I certainly wasn't restricted from leaving the house and doing most of the things I would normally do.  I went to a family gathering on the Friday following my surgery.  I wasn't able to set up the canopy's but I was able to move tables and set up chairs etc.  I did try to refrain from reaching over my head that day but at my follow-up visit with the surgeon the following week he encouraged me to go ahead and not restrict my reaching with my arms either.

I read everyone's posts before surgery and I too was worried about recovery.  But it turned out that all of that worrying was not necessary at all.  I am disabled and do not work, but I do not think my top surgery would have prevented me from working. 

Enjoy this exciting time and don't stress - its really not nearly as big of an ordeal as most think it will be.  Now with all of that said, we all know that everyone is different and everyone has different pain thresholds.  I have had seven major spine surgeries in the last 10 years, so my top surgery seemed very minor to me. 

Good luck to you & congratulations on your surgery date!! 

video games and christmas movies... lots and lots of christmas movies (surgery was dec 17th) after that it was tv and video games and books... at first books were kind of a non option with the pain meds situation... dizzying to read a bit.

I had a very quick recovery. I was up an walking right after surgery. Day two I slept most of the day and didn't take any pain pills and that night went out to eat. Third day I went to stay at my job for a few hours. My co-worker ended up sick and vomiting and I need up working for 3 hours. Day four I went to a farm and basically hung out. Day 5 and 6 I chilled at work. I even drove myself to my post op appointment to get the drains out. This is not a typical recovery. I wasn't in pain and was a very happy camper. Things to do depends on your hobbies. Reading, computer games, online time, movies, having visitors come by, school work. Make sure to get plenty of rest and eat well. And if sleeping is considered a hobby then do that. Lol

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Personally I spent the first week sleeping almost the entire time, I had all these plans for different things to keep me busy but the healing process and pain killers knocked me right out!
Now that I'm feeling mostly okay but still sore I spend most of my down time on Minecraft, it's very soothing :)


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Since I bled like an idiot I couldn't do much the first week. I was just super fatigued and my back hurt whenever I tried to do some regular activity, too, even though I wasn't in much pain otherwise. Just going to the store and do some shopping made me so tired I began to suffer from pain in my back and shoulders just from wearing my coat. I also couldn't walk up straight until about very recently, which is closer to 2 weeks post-op.

I'm almost fully mobile now though, outside of being a bit stiff, and it's been about 2 weeks. Still very swollen, however. When I couldn't do much, I spent most of my time in my bed watching TV series and I slept quite a fair bit the first week, too.

Slept for the first couple days because of the pain meds and then moved on to video games. I actually bought two new games before the surgery just so I would have something to do while recovering. |D

If you have a ds, fantasy life. I played a lot of video games. I also write and I've written 3 complete novels. I actually finished one of my books start to finish when I was recovering.

I didn't sleep much, but I was down on the couch for most of my recovery time. I just asked my spouse and he said I spent most of it doing things like writing,  playing my ds and watching him play games. I spent my first week in a hotel and I binge watched American horror story and walking dead. Of course, my recovery was interrupted by an international flight from Florida to osaka, Japan so I was put back a week on my schedule that my surgeon gave me. 

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