If you’re a smoker, your surgeon will require you to quit smoking, for a whole set of reasons related to how it compromises your cardiovascular and respiratory systems. There’s a very good mind-training CD for this. By the way, this is equally true for smoking cannabis, if that’s something you do. Medical cannabis has been…
When you travel, do you start laying out clothes and toiletries a week in advance, or throw a bunch of stuff into a bag at the last minute? If you are in the latter camp, I suggest you get some assistance in building a list and making your way through it. You could think of…
How much of your life can you put on autopilot? Can you set bills up for autopay? Think about all the chores you do in a week and who can do them for you. Do whatever you can to create a block of time that is solely about your healing. I can tell you from experience…
It’s a fair question: what kind of clothes will you wish you had? Of course, with Amazon, you can get anything you need pretty quickly, but here are my recommendations to have on hand. Plan ahead so you can be free of cares. These suggestions are specifically for folks getting a joint replacement, but they…
What about doing both at once? If you’re in relatively good shape and thus getting the anterior or superior approach, and you are going to need them both done eventually, I strongly recommend getting the two-for-one special. Of course, this assumes: your surgeon believes you to be a good candidate for a double. your surgeon does double…
Having anxious thoughts? Here’s a remedy. During the weeks before the procedure, an image would leap into my mind of the surgeon sawing away at my leg. It was horrific. And during the first four or five weeks after the surgery, I would occasionally feel a pressure at the front of one hip and the image leapt to mind of…
I’m jesting of course. In a perfect world, you could ask your doctor about that pain in your knee when you do a chair squat, or which supplements to take, or how many times each day you could, or should, ice your surgical site. But let’s get real. In my case, my surgeon is a extraordinary…
You have pain and restriction now, and you’re going to have it after the surgery too. But it’s going to be improving (unlike the degenerative arc we’ve been on) as LONG as we are committing and investing in positive outcomes. My biggest fear going into this was that the surgery was not going to solve all…
Imagine that your best beloved will be having this operation. How might you make it wonderful for them? If they loved flowers or scents, you might arrange for those. Do they have favorite (health-promoting) foods? You’d stock up. But it’s you, so maybe you think you only deserve top ramen and energy bars. Or maybe you’re waiting and hoping that…
When I asked my surgeon about the optimum frequency, duration and strategic use of cold in reducing inflammation, he shrugged his shoulders. “Studies are inconclusive. Fifteen minutes max.” No big surprise there. With cold, as with nearly every aspect of your recovery, the way forward is to start with an experiment and listen to your body….