Ideas to cheer Dad up after knee replacement op

[underplumslake]

Hello - am after any ideas for me to help cheer my lovely Dad (76) up. He had a full knee replacement op 4 days ago and is finding the recovery brutally painful, exhausting and hard, far worse than he imagined. Today he seems sooo frustrated with himself and I'm worried about him going into a decline (even though expected healing for this op can take aaaaages apparently). Does anyone have any ideas for seated/lying activities or stuff to do to keep him entertained and spirits up whilst he is on the mend? Big thank you in advance X

Jigsaw puzzles?

Subscription to Ancestry to do a family tree? Set him on a mission to put one together for you all, including stories.

There are books you can buy, one is called Dear Dad. It is a book for him to fill out his life story for you. Might that help?

I’ve worked with knee replacement patients & the majority were his age.

The operation pain is worse than the surgeons tell you it will be, & it can take a good few weeks to ease but the actual wound scar itself only takes up to 2 weeks to heal.
Your Dad must take his regular & PRN painkillers so he can keep doing his exercises from the physio several times a day - the key object is to not let that knee stiffen.
So to make himself feel brighter he could try doing his exercises in the garden or park; he should go for a short walk in the sun each day and increase the distance daily.

Then after his walk maybe reward himself with a 0% alcohol beer (as he may be on short term opiates / oxycodone eg) in the pub or get a coffee in the local Costa - you could buy him a gift card for his local coffee shop!
4 days post op is early days & he will still have some frustrating times but the important thing after that particular op is to stay up & dressed and keep active. Anything that motivates him to do this is a good thing.

Depends on cognitive situation but some things we did when my mum was in a similar situation -

Put together a list of things we'd do when she was up and about. Left it on table by the sofa so she could look at it / add to it when she wanted

I know tv seems a cop-out but I think if you're in a lot of pain and struggling to focus on other things it can really help. We sorted Netflix watchlist.

Talking Pictures (freeview) - shows old films and TV shows. Some stuff that's probably too old (1940s /50s) - but also lots from 60s/70s/80s. Think Z Cars, The A-Team, Magnum PI, Westerns, The Good Life etc. you can print out the programe schedule from their website.

audible account / audiobooks

Set up with amazon music and playlist of favourite songs. Got an Alexa device. She was really tickled by saying things like 'Alexa, play me (favourite song from playlist) etc'. Also Used Alexa for things like jokes, stories etc.

stack of books and magazines within easy reach.

Wordfeud (scrabble app on phone - can play people you know or a random opponent, so it's a little bit of interaction

Sorry, I know this is all quite basic stuff, wish I could come up with something more exciting. It's a really difficult time, I hope he starts to feel back to his normal self soon

Thanks so much everyone for such helpful, kind replies, I so appreciate this. Lots for me to suggest and try! Big thankyou XXXX