"If not in a "legal" State (medically or otherwise), get a coffee grinder and grind it down to VERY fine powder. Get capsules and a capsule making tool. Put ground product in capsules. Take the capsules.
Or just throw some vinegrette on it and chow down."
PLEASE IGNORE THIS BAD ADVICE. The medicinal chemicals in pot (CBD and THC) are heat activated. If you eat raw green pot without cooking it, it wont have any medicinal effect, but it is VERY likely to make you vomit profusely. By all means, use edibles, but properly extract the CBDs and THC with heat. Ideally, this heating process infuses a fat product (butter or oil) because your body will then more readily absorb fat-soluble THC and CBD. Avoid makimg an alcohol tincture, as alcohol is likely to mix poorly with your other medications.
Additionly, vaporizing real, green, fresh bud with a heat vaporizor is a great idea. Most vaporizors use oil, however, and the oil is toxic. It causes a painful and permanent condition called popcorn lung. Switchibg from smoke to vape withput understanding the medical lay of the land is niaive and dangerous. Vaping is not the cure-all for the rvils of smoking.
Now for the other question: Should I be smoking during recovery? Yes and no. I mean, The is right: smoke, any smoke, is bad for the lungs. AND it causes immediate if short term decreases in oxygen saturation which affects blood flow, and thus inhibits healing.
HOWEVER. Smoking pot can give near instantaneous pain and nausea relief, and its pretty much impossible to OD on. Conventional medicine prefers you use highly addictive opioids that can accumulate in and damage the liver. It is widely recognized in medicine that opioids are exponentionally more damaging, addictive, and deadly than pot. So, the real question becomes: liver or lungs? Which would you prefer to sacrifice? As a final note on this section, smoking pot is an expectorant: it makes you cough-- deeply, expelling stale CO2 from the tiny pockets deep in your lungs. Gaseous anasthesia gets trapped in these pockets and can paralyze them; this is why you were probably coached to deep breathe and force cough for a day or two following surgery. Ergo, smoking pot may help you expell harmful lingering anasthesia from your lungs. This chronic opening of the pockets in the lungs can also improve lung capacity and thus help counteract the short term decrease in oxygen saturation it causes.
As a note, my surgeon is well aware I use MJ, and I report on its effectiveness in an ongoing way, just like prescribed medication. She has never voiced concern over its use, and had commebted that it can be an effective pain killer for some.
Right about now, you're going "Woo hoo! All that sounds pretty good. Seems reasonable, gives me things to consider and be cautious of, but it sounds like it's ok to smoke." Well, here's the news you don't want: smoking tobaccco, even in small amounts, drastically increases your chances of fistula/abscess reoccurance. I'm not a doctor, and there are as yet discrepancies in clinical testing, so I wont attempt to give you the stats, but the emerging body of evidence is becoming clear: tobacco use is a significant contributing factor to fistula/abscess formation and reoccurance. If you want the best chances for recovery, quit smoking tobacco.