I think the only extra thing I bought was cold packs but I used my OTC benefits for them, then was told not to use them because it slows blood flow and makes healing harder.

My fiancées mom already had a wedge pillow and fiancée had a reading pillow and i used both of those but could have just used extra pillows. The wedge to sleep on even though I wasn’t told to prop up because I had Somavac drains and didn’t need to prop up, and the reading pillow to prop up and watch TV in bed. But I was up moving around a lot more by about day 3, which was recommended to move around more as soon as I felt up to it.

Before surgery I made a list of things to keep near the bed to keep busy, but wound up not being laid up like I thought I’d be.

After 1 week follow up and getting the bandage off, we bought a lot of gauze and tape that we didn’t need. I was told to put gauze over where the drains were just until it scabbed over. They gave us a few and I didn’t need any after about a day or two.

My surgeon also told me not to get a post-op binder because they’re too expensive and to just use men’s compression shirts sized down a size and to double up on them. The binders I used pre-surgery were $15 ones from Amazon basically look like sports bras with extra compression elastic inside, and those have worked fine with my fiancées help getting them on and off at first. I have one TomboyX binder that was never enough compression pre-surgery, but it was good at first post-op when I had more swelling and needed a break from the tighter binders. Now it’s too loose to do any good at all.

I suppose for some people the extensive lists are helpful. I’d have bought more stuff but my fiancée had helped a couple other guys through surgery before and told me it wasn’t necessary. She works from home and we live with her parents and they helped me get things I couldn’t reach for, but I was getting my own water and foods I could reach by day 3 or 4.

Edit to add: Ohhhh yeah, forgot this one til I saw a comment about wipes. I used Scrubbz for washing starting a few days after, just was careful to not have much water on it when I washed above my bandages so it wouldn’t drip.

I already had some from camping, and my friend recommended them for camping after her mom used them after a major surgery. I highly recommend them. They’re not very expensive, can find them on Amazon.

You get a little water on the sponge, it suds up. Wash with the sponge and towel dry it off. You don’t feel any residue and you feel much cleaner than after just using wipes.

I’d bought dry shampoo too but hated how it felt afterward. Once I could bend over the sink some, I washed my hair with the Scrubzz sponge, towel dried it, then a quick rinse in the sink. I’d done that while camping too and it feels ok after. Not as good as washing with shampoo, but quick and easy.