Recovering From Surgery Alone | Psychology Today

I recently had surgery. In the name of transparency, the kind of surgery I had is called a rectopexy. Read about it at your own risk with the link provided. It was performed through my abdomen, laparoscopically, with the surgeon using a robot. My surgeon said that despite having only four half-inch round incisions on my abdomen, it was major surgery.

What constitutes recovery from surgery? In one study of patients who underwent abdominal surgery, “the meaning of recovery was found to go beyond traditional clinical parameters. The elements of recovery identified [include] returning to habits and routines, resolution of symptoms, overcoming mental strains, regaining independence, and enjoying life.”

One of the unanswered questions is, how long does that recovery take? The easy answer is that everyone’s situation is different as is everyone’s medical condition. One of the harder answers is that the criteria that constitutes recovery is subjective: One person with pain might have difficulty getting off the couch, while another with the same level of pain potentially has no issue with powering through it.

My surgery was on a Thursday, and I was to stay in the hospital for one night, to be discharged on Friday afternoon. The plan was for me to head up to my brother’s home in Connecticut and recuperate there until Sunday afternoon. The surgeon told me I had to work remotely for the first…