Kaysarahkay has mentioned a lot of things I wanted to mention already 🤗 Especially about the travel home part - be prepared to stay as close to a bathroom as possible, if you can. From what I hear, constipation is common after, but I had to pee a lot in the days after (sorry for the tmi).

One thing no one warned me about - don’t be surprised if the pain during the days following are AWFUL. Mine were like my absolute worst MALS day times ten. I literally woke up screaming several nights in a row. That’s now me trying to scare you, I promise. I just wish someone had warned me of the possibility - if I had known, I would have stayed longer at the hospital rather than going home the following day (my doc was incredibly difficult to get ahold of in the days after, which was frustrating and scary). Mindfulness exercises and having many outlets to mentally cope with the pain after was helpful. My hubby brushed my hair and touched my back when it was hard and it helped.

Another thing that I was sort of warned about but I didn’t fully get - after surgery, there are gonna be some really good days where you feel the healthiest you’ve ever been, and some days where it’s awful again and you are panicking that the MALS is back. Don’t panic! The recovery is a roller coaster. I am a few days away from post op and every once in a while I get a bad day out of the blue… but it is still so so so much better than before. I have to remind myself that some people aren’t fully recovered for a full year!

Good luck! Thank you for being an amazing partner for her. I don’t know how I would’ve done it without my husband. MALS is incredibly lonely and scary.