Donna,

I guess the best advice would depend on the height of your couch and where the pain is... I think that it would help if you gave us more details about exactly what getting up from the couch is like/feels like for you.

I'm going to assume your couch is low like my old one. When we went shopping for our new furniture, I insisted on buying a much higher couch, which is so much easier for me to get off of...

Putting a couple pillows under your bum may help. Better yet... they make special pillows (for wheelchairs, etc) that are sold at medical supply places. Some of the ones made for cars seats are good, too. They won't flatten like regular pillows.

Also, putting a couple of pillows next to you to push off of with your arm can help a lot (that's what I used to do)... but I don't know what kind of shape the arm you just had surgery on is, and I know you definitely will not be able to put any pressure on the other side once you have your upcoming surgery.

There are other options out there, but all of the ones I can think of would require an arm workout, so I wouldn't recommend them.