Thread: Time

My current WIP opens with the main character being wheeled into a pretty major surgery.

Because there are certain things that clearly can't be done right away after something of this scale, do you think it is necessary to be explicit in the number of days that pass between events that occur while she's still in the hospital?

I had someone read it and he pointed out that he wasn't sure if it was realistic to have the patient walking around when he didn't know if it was the day after surgery or a few days or a week or more.

Has anyone else ever run into this problem? What are your thoughts?

It can be just as easy as a short phrase like: "After she had recovered". I think it would be a good idea to put some kind of indication in there somewhere that some time has passed, but I don't think its absolutely necessary to state how much. Although you could work in something like: "Six months ago she had been in pain, but now she felt as good as new." if you think the length of time is important.