My 85 year old mom has been too depressed to take a walk in the street since her laparoscopic resection surgery 7 weeks ago, so I guess I should be overjoyed when she told me she cleaned the kitchen a bit today. However, I was worried about her internal resected colon sutures. She's always been a stickler for cleanliness and didn't like how the kitchen floors looked! She moved a cloth around with her foot, and then bent over for about 5 minutes to clean some of the floor (and spent a few minutes on her hands and knees).
She didn't lift anything heavy, and I know that a good sneeze or taking care of one's bodily functions probably puts more pressure on the stomach and the intestines, but is there any problem with doing housework? Before this, her most strenuous activity since the surgery was cleaning up after the cat (I come over and empty the litterbox as that's still a bit too heavy for her). Am I being too cautious and am I worrying too much?
Two weeks after surgery, when her staples were removed, the nurse practitioner told her it was okay to bend, but she was very careful until today. She used to be very self-sufficient, but I've been doing all her shopping and small chores around her apartment.