4 Things You Can Do To Prepare For Knee Surgery
Getting knee replacement surgery is a major surgery. Although the procedure is as advanced as ever and the healing is easier than it has been in the past, it is still something that you need to prepare for. Here are a couple things that you will need to do before you can actually get the surgery.
1. Pretesting
A couple weeks before the surgery you will need to get some pretesting done. This is a good opportunity to make sure that you are healthy enough for the surgery. For example, they will test for diabetes, blood clotting problems, heart disease and anything else that could interfere with your surgery. If there are problems you may have to wait until your health improves before you can get the surgery. You don't want risk serious complications during the surgery.
2. Blood Drawn
Another great thing to do is get some blood drawn before you go into surgery. What you will do is go in like you are donating blood, but they will save the blood for you. Then if you don't need it, it will be donated later. This could be lifesaving if something were to go wrong. For example, if you needed a blood transfusion because you lost too much blood during the surgery, you would have your blood right there ready to transport.
If your doctor doesn't bring up getting blood drawn before the surgery, ask them about different options. Tell them you want the blood drawn and then wish to donate it if it isn't needed.
3. A Consult With The Anesthesiologist
When you get the actual surgery you will have to be put under full anesthesia. Although, anesthesia is very safe, there can be complications if you are not healthy enough. This is why it is best to meet with the anesthesiologist weeks in advance so that you can make the necessary changes needed so that you can be put under safely.
4. Change Medications
Most people who get knee surgery are on a variety of different medications. Before you go into surgery you might need to get them out of your system. Your doctor needs to know about every medication that you are taking, so they can determine if you need to wean off of them before the actual surgery. This should be done weeks before so that you aren't eliminating medications days before.
These are just a couple things that you need to do before your surgery. For more information, talk to your surgeon (such as Joseph P. Spott, DO).
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