Neal:
You're on the right track! Staying relatively busy before surgery and focusing elsewhere is always a sound strategy. Setting goals is what I did and the strategy worked out well.
The surgery will have you 'asleep' for however long it takes and pretty tired and 'groggy' immediately afterward. Assuming you have no real complications, having the anesthesia eliminated from your brain and body may take a day or more, then you'll begin to feel better. Sitting up in a chair was my first 'accomplishment', post-op. Then, walking the halls (with my wife by my side) was the next. By Day 3 I began to feel relatively normal and was able to eat, a somewhat major achievement, considering the quality of hospital food. By Day 4 - out of the ICU and in a 'regular' (semi-private) room, I still tired easily but was becoming anxious to go home. By the late morning of Day 5, the PT nurse made me demonstrate that I wouldn't fall down the stairs and could navigate by myself. That having been accomplished to her satisfaction, my doctor's assistant (also a neurosurgeon) signed off on my discharge and I was enjoying brunch at a nearby eatery with my wife and adult son by noon that day. Once home, I slept a lot but slowly regained my strength and was pretty much ready to resume my normal life within 10 days of my discharge. My doctor gave me permission to drive two weeks after my discharge and I never looked back. My recovery was quite rapid and within a month of my surgery I was doing pretty much everything I did prior to my hospitalization. The fact that I'm retired likely helped - no job to deal with - but I don't lead a sedentary life, by any means.
Not every AN surgical patient has the same experience and 'your mileage may vary' but with a successful surgery and absent any serious post-op complications, with your goal-oriented attitude and family support, you should do well. In the meantime, know that many, many people who know what you're going through are sending you good thoughts and including you in their prayers.
Jim
