Live alone and only have a bathroom on the 2nd floor so possibly overly prepared to stay upstairs for a few weeks (although I have friends/family dropping by to help) non weight bearing for total of 4weeks. But here’s what I was ready for and what I wasn’t. Thought I’d share while I’ll bored in bed.
Prepared: snacks/food on my level (including fridge), hygiene/cleaning wipes, knee scooter/walker/crutches/wheelchair, shower chair/cast cover, books/TV/activities, stool softeners, someone to stay 24hrs after surgery, foot pillow
Unprepared:
-Bland food for nausea: pain meds and anesthesia left me a bit sick until day 4. Got some saltines and rolls. But nothing else I had sounded good. Needed to eat to take the meds, but was too sick to eat.
-mobility on other levels: knee scooter is by far the best for my small house. Even if I decided to scoot on my butt downstairs there is no good way to get around. I thought I’d use the walker and wheelchair , but the bandage is heavy making it hard to use the walker and the wheelchair is hard to navigate (my parents had a chair, I didn’t buy it). This also leaves me dependent on others to take me to appointments because I can’t carry a scooter down the stairs. I ordered a 2nd for the 1st floor coming tomorrow. $100 for freedom is worth it for someone who doesn’t like to ask for help.
-smelly house: people are smelly, especially when they don’t shower everyday. Air fresheners, open windows and fan help. But reminder to myself not to schedule my other foot when it’s too cold/too hot to open windows
-giant splint/foot wrap: I was prepared not to use my foot, was not prepared for the temp splint to be ungodly giant and heavy. Makes it really hard to put on shorts unless they have big leg holes. Shrinking my available clothes to like 4 pairs of shorts. Also the cast cover for the shower won’t fit over it so I used a trash bag and kept my foot outside the shower. No real solution yet, but move to a cast in about another week so just hoping for the best!
Anyone else have anything they weren’t quite ready for even after months or research?