@Mgi - As @Birdie mentioned - “where there’s a will there’s a way” i.e. you can do your own self & dog care soon after you get home from surgery, however, if you take the prescribed pain meds, they may make you feel dopey/light headed/unstable on your feet, so dog walking, at least w/o a friend w/ you, will be off the table for a week or more. If you have a dog that pulls on the leash when you walk, you might want to consider having help w/ dog walking for closer to a month as any yanking on your arms can affect your neck & create further inflammation & slower recovery.
A number of our members have done food prep prior to surgery. We recommend planning for a soft diet for the first week or two post op as a sore throat (from the breathing tube used during surgery) & a sore jaw are very common post op. Smoothies w/ fruit, veggies & protein powder, soups, soft pasta dishes, fruit sauces, etc., are good to have on hand. I/my husband used our blender to blend whatever meal was cooked i.e. meat, veggies, etc. w/ broth or water for blending. The stuff looked awful but tasted great!
It is good that you’ll have someone with you for the first 48 hours post op. I’d say 2-3 days to have someone around to help you. Days 3-5 are when post op swelling peaks & pain can be the worst so during that period it’s critical to take pain meds on schedule, ice your neck for 15 min every couple of hours w/ a thin cloth between skin & ice pack to protect from ice burns (gel packs work great especially those that can be frozen or heated so you can use them for heat later in healing), sleeping w/ head elevated to ~30º to reduce throat & neck swelling (a wedge pillow is helpful for this), & a laxative & stool softener to take daily to prevent constipation from the Rx pain med if you take it.
As with all surgeries, some people bounce back faster than others. I don’t know how severe your IJV compression symptoms are, but with severe compression symptoms can take 3+ months to begin realizing benefit from the surgery. That said, some people have begun feeling better w/in the first month post op. However, symptoms can flare in the 1-2 month time frame as nerves begin to heal & blood flow in/out of the brain begins to normalize. ES surgery recovery is non-linear which can be disconcerting, but it’s part of the healing process & given more time, those symptoms’ flares will settle again & further recovery will occur.
Here’s a link to a discussion about surgery & what to expect: