Care for Cat after operation?

Dear fellow cat-lovers,

I was wondering if anyone could advise, or if you've been in a similar
situation.
I'm out of my mind with worry.

Our little 7 month old male kitten, Socrates, a tortie-and-white
Domestic Shorthair, was operated on yesterday. The Veterinary surgeon
removed a very long piece of string from his tummy. He's still under
observation for about 48 hours. They had to make several incisions
apparently and there is some damage.

I wish we had known not to leave any long lengths of string around, now
we will cat-proof our house once again -- if the little scrap survives.
He started vomiting on Friday, as Cats will, at first we assumed it was
normal feline response but watched him anyway. When he did it again,
every 3-4 hours, we called the vet. By then he was also hunched over
and not his usual bright self.

It was Sunday and we were lucky our Vet is one of the better ones here
in London, they had an emergency backup team and were able to operate
on Sunday. However, the vet asked us to leave him behind after an
initial examination where he could feel a foreign body lodged in
Socrates' abdomen. They performed an x-ray and called us back. I asked
to wait while they x-rayed him, which might have been of comfort to
Socrates, but the vet advised us to leave him with them.

If he makes it through and we are able to bring him home-- do you have
any suggestions or experience of how to care for him? Will he have to
wear an Elizabethan collar? Is ther a high likelihood of the stitches
getting infected? Will we have to change his dressings often? It won't
be easy to care for him as he's quite frisky and will object to being
handled and will also fuss to be let out into the garden. But I'm
assuming we'll have to keep him indoors and not let him jump up or
climb stairs?

Thanks in advance,
Shona (first-time cat mom)