I would suggest that the most important thing my helper, my daughter who was then in her 40s, did while aiding me thru a fusion of L2-S1, was during the recovery phase in the first few weeks at home. After my first visit to PT, I came home with PT exercises to do. She would not let me not do them. She would wake me up from a nap so I could complete whatever exercises I hadn't finished. I am so grateful to her for persistently following the PT's instructions on what to do and how much of it to do. And we laugh about it now.