I've found the parts catalogue more useful than the manual over the last six years. The diagrams are a bit small for someone of my age, but they're really good at showing what order the bits and pieces go together in, plus the part numbers so you know what to order.
A bit of light wire brushing probably won't do any harm but for goodness sake get someone else to do the lifting. A friend of mine had a hysterectomy (which is a bit different from you, but similarly involves making a hole in the abdomen and having to wait a few weeks for it to heal up) and she was given a leaflet about resuming activities. After three days she could do 'light dusting' and after a week or so 'vacuuming', and so on. She was most indignant.