Free Powerful Software:

Daz Studio - you can probably run it with no problems and there are plenty of free figures out there to get you started.  You can get all the Daz base figs except for V4.2 and A4 for free right now.  (posette, V1, V2 Milkids/whatever not included in that I don't think , just V3, M3, A3, etc.. Plus, there are plenty of third party figures out there like Apollo if you're into figures/posing/creating clothing and items for them.)

Blender - Probably, the most powerful, free 3D modeling solution out there right now.  Very complex menus and submenus but a HUGE user base and gazillions of tutorials.  I can't say enough about how powerful Blender is and being FREE as well.  It's just got a steep learning curve.

GIMP - Free powerful painting program for all just about  your texturing needs.

Wings3D - A free, different and simpler 3D Modeller than Blender but definitely easier to play with.

Anim8tor - Another free 3D modeller, a little weird but easy to use and free.

POVRay - A freebie ray-trace rendering engine.  It's fairly easy to use.  AFAIK, you still have to export created scenes from DAZ Studio or Poser into a single wavefront object form (Not difficult).  But, it's pretty neat and you can achieve some decent effects with it.

With all of that plus hitting Renderosity &  DAZ3d freebie areas and forums along with a liberal session downloading from ShareCG, you should be quite well stocked for you long recovery!

Enjoy, have fun, get well soon and say "Hi" to Mickey for me!