Tips for Surgery and Recovery - Before the Surgery

A colleague will be having hip replacement surgery in late October. In speaking with her briefly about her preparation, I realized she's doing lots of things right. But she was unaware of many other tips (from myself and other spine and heart surgery survivors) that can ease her through the process. 

So here is the first of several posts outlining top tips for getting to and through surgery.

Before the Surgery:

Get in touch with your motivation for having the surgery and going through the recovery process. Talk to someone, meditate, pray, journal, or do whatever until you find a positive mental space. I made a vision board. A few weeks before surgery, when I was terrified, I asked myself “Why am I having surgery?” “What will it bring to my life?” “How will it make my life better?” And I clipped out words, phrases, photos, etc. that helped answer those questions, and taped them all to a piece of posterboard. My board included a photo of a romantic dinner, an airplane, viewing autumn leaves in New England, a beach vacation, dancing shoes, etc. Plus some of my favorite inspirational quotes, pics of friends and family, and photos of things that just make me happy. Doing this exercise got me focused on the good and helped me dig down for positive motivation – which helped me get through the fear and the pain!

Ask your doctor if you can have your pain med prescription written/filled ahead of time to have ready for your return home. That way you aren’t running to the pharmacy on the same day you drive home. That also gives you time in case the pharmacy has to special-order your medication, you have to get insurance preapproval, or anything unexpected like that.

Write an advanced directive and give it to the hospital during your preadmission visit. At the very least, fill out the part of the form that allows you to designate someone to receive updates on your condition, hear your test results, etc. Hospitals should do this anyway – just allow one family member to hear your protected medical information. But putting it in writing eliminates all confusion. View ADVANCE DIRECTIVE: Guide to Maryland Law on Health Care Decisions (Forms Included).

Get help from your health insurance company. Some health insurances offer case manager services. This is someone who can expedite all the paperwork that goes with major surgery, coordinating home care and prescription med approvals, etc. If that sort of thing overwhelms you, you might want to try seeking out some case manager support. 

Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield makes it incredibly easy to find a case manager - visit their Case Management web page and type in your zip code. In other states and other insurance plans, you may have to work harder to find a case manager - call your customer service rep and see if they can direct you to a case manager.