Hey Guys ,
I have been reading many many posts here and I do have another question..
After a discectomy do you really need things like a raised toilet seat and grabbers ?
I mean if you don’t get them are you doomed to helpless pain OR do they just make things a little more comfortable ?
I’m having an open discectomy in June and I really wasn’t planning on getting anything at all. But then again I do only live in a small apartment .
Please post feedback

Welcome to this board. Well, I had a fusion and I bought 2 grabbers, one for each floor I was mostly on. I also took one to work. I love the darn things, and I actually prefer one that I bought at some pharmacy that is not suction cupped. But they both work great! I will use this going forward, even if I was limber again (in my dreams maybe! hehehe). These are a great gadget for anyone.

I never got a raised toilet seat. If you have decent leverage, etc. to help you on/off.. you may not need this device. But I can say.. it does help.

You will be fine. Take care. Tammy:wave:

I love my grabbers also I have 2 my intentions were because we have 2 levels but what I found is I would drop the good one so the second one was always handy to retreive it.

The one my hospital gave me has a magnet and all kinds of goodies on it I just love it.

I did not need the raised toliet seat either the first week was hard but hubby helped me up and down.

Good luck

The raised toilet seat may depend on your height. If you're tall, you've got a lot farther to go back up and your core is at a different angle from how it is for shorter people. Especially if your height is in your legs, you might be glad to have one if you're tall.

As far as the grabbers, I tried the gopher, too, and found it was not as strong as the one from the pharmacy. It was okay and was less expensive, but the one from the pharmacy was able to hang onto a heavier item than the gopher.

The gopher I had was only $9.99, so maybe there is more than one type. If you can find the $20 one, it might be better than the one I had.

Wish you the best,
Emily :wave:

I didn't need the Raised toilet seat...I think it depends on its height like Blueatlas said, and Your leg strength. the Grabbers were my best friend for many months :)

Hi there,

Toilet seat...would have been useful for a couple of days when I returned home (our toilet is a lot lower than the one at the hospital) but was honestly fine after that...a lot of it is just getting used to differences. The hardest thing for me the first few days home was getting used to my bed. I'd mastered getting out of bed easily in hospital, but had to re-learn it to cope with my much lower bed and sofa at home.

A grabber would have been very useful while in hospital and for a or so week after...it gets very frustrating when you make a cup of tea, get a book, crossword and pen and put them all in an easy-reach place next to the sofa, lie down...then remember the tv remote which is just out of reach. While struggling to get the remote, you knock the pen on the floor...darn! A famiiar story for all I think!

Just to let you know with regard to your earlier question about time off work, I'm three weeks post-op tomorrow and reckon if it wasn't for my continued leg pain I could manage very light-duty (computer etc..) work now. Not sure I could sit for very long periods, or drive for too long, and I'd be wary of being in crowded places, but things are getting back to normal. I think 2 weeks is too little, 3 weeks at the earliest, preferably at least 4 weeks. I was signed off for 6 weeks by my surgeon (7 if you include the hospital stay).

Good luck with the op.
Jinks