Terri
Well-Known Member
Hi Terri,
Sorry I'm a bit late to the party. I have a fully-dependent, non-ambulatory, special needs daughter so I thought I'd chime in a bit. I am my daughter's sole caregiver under normal circumstances. When I had my DS I made arrangements for someone else to provide care for my daughter, in my home, while I recovered. This meant that I didn't do any of the physical stuff related to my daughter's care. No pushing, pulling, repositioning, lifting, moving, etc.
I was worried that my daughter would miss the playing, snuggling, etc. and have a difficult time with the changes but I found alternate ways to still have those types of interactions with her and she was remarkably (surprisingly?) adaptive.
The biggest challenge I found was honoring the weight limitations during recovery. Even though I was healed on the outside, and I was feeling better with strength and stamina, I had to remind myself that the human body still requires 4 - 6 weeks to stitch together soft tissues internally so I needed to avoid anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks.
You'll do great. Your son will do great! It's only a few short weeks out of the rest of your new healthy life. You've got this!
Thanks Sandy! I will just have to keep reminding myself about healing on the inside. I just told DH this morning that I am going to have to have someone at the house through the night while he is at work. My son had a bm at 9pm and at 2:30 am. There is no way I could turn him over, reposition or tug his clothing back on after surgery.
When I get down to it it boils down to me not liking to be dependent on others. I know I am going to have to be or recovery will be longer, not to mention the higher possibility of complications.