Items Needed for Post Operative Care

Those items included the binder which is shown below.  But actually mine was not as wide and had only three sections.  The binder had Velcro on the one end and at my initial and subsequent follow-up it was tightened each time. After two weeks I was given the approval to no longer wear the binder but I continued to wear it probably up until almost 4 weeks.  I still wear it sometimes at night.

The tanks were to wear under the binder to help prevent irritation to the incision area that could be caused by the binder.

Plus, I had to wear the T.E.D hose (thigh length) for two weeks following surgery.  These are worn to help maintain blood circulation and prevent potential blood clots. Wearing these meant when I got out, I had on slippers because thong type shoes don't look so great.  All this under your clothing plus walking hunched over.  Boy, was I a sight.

I also had several prescriptions which were filled prior to surgery.  As I've touched on in a previous blog, they included a 30 pill script for Hydrocodon with Acetaminophen for pain (a total of 3 pills are gone), 10 pill script for Valium to help with anxiety and severe muscle spasms (which I never used), and a 5 day antibiotic taken once a day.

I also had to have the items below.  The Polysporin was to put on the band-aids on the areas that were taking a little bit longer to heal.  The ointment was used on the opening from the drainage tube for the next 48 hours until the opening closed and proceeded to heal as well as used on any areas that were taking a bit longer to heal.  

The Hydrogen Peroxide was to cleanse any areas prior to using the ointment and band-aids.  

The non-stick dressings were used to cover the length of my incision for two weeks following surgery.  I used about 6 or 7 each time to completely cover the incised area as it healed and changed them daily.  

Oh, and I also needed Q-Tips (not pictured below).