Post-op recovery: How is everyone doing?

Had my appendix ripped out a few days ago, now I'm just stuck at home recovering. They're taking the staples out in five days...
The bloating is killing me. Can't even use the bathroom normally because I'm constantly running to the restroom—bladder pressure is hitting the incision hard. Plus, my back is absolutely trashed from being stuck in bed or sitting around all day...

Curious if anyone else who went through this bounced back fast, or how long it actually took to feel human again?
Honestly, I'm losing my mind. Can't walk much, can't leave the house, can't even bake anything... Yesterday I actually had my dad help me wash my hair 🙂

Worst part is I haven't even been able to cough properly without the wound hurting. God forbid I have to sneeze...

This sucks... 😢

Hang in there, you've got this 🙂
Just a heads-up, it’s probably going to take about a month before you feel like your body is back to its usual self—I mean, you basically had all those abdominal muscles sliced apart, so give yourself some grace. One thing I learned is that whenever you have to go to the bathroom or if you catch a coughing fit, you really need to press your hand against your incision site to help manage that internal pressure. It sounds a bit weird, but it’s super important to prevent the wound from opening up or developing an incisional hernia.
You'll definitely find it a lot easier to bend over and move around in about a week...

Don't try to hold back those coughs, honestly—letting them out is actually super helpful. If you pair that with some deep breathing exercises, it makes a massive difference in getting back on your feet and staying ahead of things like pneumonia or whatever else might try to move in.

As for everything else, just gotta have patience... like Scott Allen10 was saying earlier.

So I see your surgeon was basically an artist, what with how they closed up that wound using those extended stitches.
Like everyone else here keeps saying, maybe patience really is the key to getting through this.

Casey Cook10 said:looks like your surgeon was playing "artist" with those long continuous stitches...

Why am I calling them an artist? Is that not how they usually stitch? Whatever, I just begged the anesthesiologist to tell them to patch me up right. Still gotta wear a bikini at the beach, not some full-body suit, you know? 😉

What’s the deal with those long stitches anyway? It looks pretty intense; the thread just goes in one side and out the other 🙏

Started drinking this detox tea today on my doctor's advice because I can't keep going like this...

I had surgery on a completely different part of my body—shoulder surgery, actually—but even then, it took a full week just for my metabolism to stop acting wonky. I tried my best not to spend the whole day in bed; I was back at my computer the very next day, though I could barely manage to click a mouse. It took two months before I felt even remotely functional, and it wasn't until six months later that my nerve sensitivity finally returned to normal. Up until recently, the area around the incision stayed numb. The doctors always give you that standard line about needing patience, but my surgeon told me to keep moving. He said not to overdo it, obviously, but warned me not to "play the patient" too much. There’s a fine line there, of course; you don't want to push it too far, but if you're unsure, you should probably just check with your doctor first.
As for hygiene, I couldn't even wash my hair for two months because I was terrified of getting dirty water near the incisions. Same goes for showering; I stuck to sponge baths from the waist down, but hey, I survived. My stitches were dissolvable (correct me if I'm using the wrong terminology—I'll leave that to the experts), so they didn't need to be removed, which was a huge relief. They just absorbed on their own, and honestly, the scars are remarkably minimal considering how large the cuts had to be.

Man, God help anyone who ends up in their hands!!!!!

Question for the experts, just out of curiosity: isn't this done microinvasively now? A few years back, that was the big trend, but then I heard recovery actually takes longer (I can't recall the reason why). What's the current state of misinformation regarding this? 😉