In your life, there may come a time where you have a loved one that needs to undergo surgery. If they already have someone who’s taking care of them, like if they live in an assisted living facility, their care will be handled and you can just offer support when needed. But if you’re going to be the one caring for them as they recover, there are a few more things you’re going to want to do to ensure that everything goes smoothly with their recovery.
To help you learn just what can be done, here are three tips for caring for someone who’s just had surgery.
Educate Yourself
Prior to their surgery, it’s wise to educate yourself about the surgery that they’re going to have and what advice and guidance there is about how to care for them following the procedure.
In some cases, you might have to do things like redress bandages, help with drains, handle their medication, watch for infection, and more. But if you don’t know that you’re supposed to be doing these things, or how to do them safely, you could compromise the recovery of your loved one. So by putting in the time to learn about these things prior to surgery, you can prepare yourself for the recovery and get answers to any questions you might have.
Get The Right Supplies
Once you know what you should be doing to help care for your loved one as they’re recovering from surgery, you should then make sure that you have all of the right supplies to give them the care they need.
While you’ll need to check that you get them the right medications and medical supplies, you should also try to do what you can to help them stay comfortable as they’re recovering. This might mean getting them cushions for certain parts of their body, getting a few heating pads or cooling pads, and having things for them to do to help pass the time as they’re incapacitated.
Provide Them With Adequate Nutrition
One of the biggest things that you can do to help your loved one after they have surgery is to provide them with adequate nutrition in order to fuel their body for recovery.
In most cases, people recovering from surgery should try to get a decent amount of protein in their diet to help them heal. So while only eating comfort food might be what sounds good when your loved one isn’t feeling well, it’s vital that you ensure that they’re eating healthy foods that will help with recovery as you care for them after surgery.
If you’ll soon be caring for someone who’s going to have surgery, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you know how to give them the best car possible.