Your Guide to Recovering From Orthopedic Same-Day Surgery

When your provider tells you that you need ortho­pe­dic surgery, your mind might jump to pack­ing your bag and spend­ing the night in a hos­pi­tal bed. But while inpa­tient surgery (a pro­ce­dure that requires an overnight hos­pi­tal stay) is still used for some pro­ce­dures, it’s actu­al­ly more like­ly that you will be hav­ing out­pa­tient surgery.

Out­pa­tient, or same-day surgery, is where you get to go home the day of the pro­ce­dure. It’s extreme­ly com­mon – in fact, more than 70% of surg­eries in the US are per­formed on an out­pa­tient-basis, and ortho­pe­dic out­pa­tient surg­eries are becom­ing increas­ing­ly more com­mon. These surg­eries are safe, effec­tive, and gen­er­al­ly less expen­sive than inpa­tient ones. And one of the best parts is that you get to recov­er in the com­fort of your own home.

The idea of going home right after surgery may be a relief, but it’s nor­mal if it also makes you a lit­tle ner­vous. You might be unsure of what to expect dur­ing recov­ery and how to stay safe as you heal.

Learn­ing about recov­er­ing from same-day surgery ahead of time can help set you up for a suc­cess­ful recov­ery – and also make surgery a lit­tle less stressful.

Before Same-Day Surgery

The recov­ery process doesn’t begin the moment you get out of surgery – it actu­al­ly starts before the pro­ce­dure even begins. There are sev­er­al things to knock off your check­list before your appointment.

Find Some­one to Stay With You After Surgery

Being alone after surgery isn’t a good idea, espe­cial­ly if you had gen­er­al anes­the­sia (med­ica­tion to put you in a sleep-like state dur­ing surgery) or anoth­er form of seda­tion. Hav­ing com­pa­ny isn’t just for com­fort or help mov­ing around – it’s also for safe­ty. If you have a bad reac­tion to med­ica­tion or injure your­self, hav­ing some­one else there is crit­i­cal for get­ting the help you need.

Make sure that you have a safe ride home and that some­one can stay with you for at least 24 hours. Let them know of any signs they should look out for that could indi­cate that they need to get help.

Set Up Your Home

Depend­ing on the type of pro­ce­dure, you may need to make some adjust­ments to your liv­ing space. For exam­ple, if the surgery could make it dif­fi­cult to use the stairs, you may need to tem­porar­i­ly trade your upstairs bed­room for some­where on the first floor. If the surgery could affect your abil­i­ty to stretch out your arms, it may be ben­e­fi­cial to move objects that you reg­u­lar­ly use off of shelves.

Oth­er ways to pre­pare your home ahead of time include:

• Pre­vent­ing falls (eg., remov­ing rugs or trip­ping haz­ards like cords)
• Shop­ping for gro­ceries beforehand
• Mak­ing sure entrances to the house and bath­rooms are clear
• Hav­ing every­day objects like phone charg­ers or remote con­trols eas­i­ly accessible
• Lay­ing out com­fy clothes so you don’t have to dig through drawers

Read on Duly Health and Care: Get­ting Your House Ready for Total Joint Replace­ment Recovery

Talk to Your Sur­geon About Pre-Sur­gi­cal Prep

Out­pa­tient surg­eries often require some prep work, but try not to stress – it’s usu­al­ly fair­ly sim­ple. For instance, depend­ing on the type of pro­ce­dure, you may need to:

• Avoid shav­ing in the area of your surgery. If you need to be shaved, the sur­gi­cal team will take care of it.
• Stop using alco­hol or tobac­co for 24 hours before the surgery.
• Fast (not eat or drink) for a cer­tain amount of time.
• Refrain from wear­ing deodor­ant, lotion, per­fume, or antibac­te­r­i­al soap on the day of the surgery.

Let your provider know about any pre­scrip­tion and over-the-counter med­ica­tions, sup­ple­ments, or vit­a­mins you take on a reg­u­lar basis. Some med­ica­tions may need to be adjust­ed before the surgery, since cer­tain ones can affect how your body process­es anes­the­sia or pain man­age­ment medications.

After Same-Day Surgery

If you had gen­er­al anes­the­sia or seda­tion, you will need to spend some time in the recov­ery room while the med­i­cine wears off. If you only had local anes­the­sia (med­ica­tion that numbs a small part of your body and doesn’t affect your con­scious­ness), you can like­ly go home as soon as you feel well enough.

Once home, the next steps in the recov­ery process are in your hands.

Close­ly Fol­low Dis­charge Instructions

It’s essen­tial to fol­low your dis­charge plan care­ful­ly, espe­cial­ly when it comes to med­ica­tion. Take your med­ica­tions exact­ly as pre­scribed. Tak­ing too much could lead to a dan­ger­ous over­dose, while not tak­ing enough could leave you in pain.

If your med­ica­tion is caus­ing side effects, talk to your provider before stop­ping. They may be able to help reduce side effects or pre­scribe a dif­fer­ent medication.

Phys­i­cal Therapy

Depend­ing on the type of pro­ce­dure, your sur­geon may rec­om­mend phys­i­cal ther­a­py. In some cas­es, ther­a­py may begin the same day or the day after your pro­ce­dure. You may also be instruct­ed to rest and slow­ly ease back into your dai­ly life.

It’s impor­tant to stick with your phys­i­cal ther­a­py, as well as to fol­low direc­tions about rest­ing and not doing too much. While it can be tempt­ing to stop ther­a­py or jump back into your every­day activ­i­ties in full force as soon as you’re feel­ing your­self again, doing so before your body is ready can stop you from heal­ing correctly.

Read on Duly Health and Care: Under­stand­ing Pain Man­age­ment Options

Pre­vent Blood Clots

Blood clots are mass­es of blood cells and oth­er sub­stances that form in your blood ves­sels. After surgery, you may be at risk for blood clots that form in your veins and block the flow of blood. This is called venous throm­boem­bolism (VTE). VTE clots can wreak hav­oc on your body, seri­ous­ly dam­ag­ing organs, tis­sues, and veins. They can even block blood to crit­i­cal areas of your body, like your lungs, which can be fatal.

VTE clots devel­op after peri­ods of not mov­ing or hav­ing inflam­ma­tion – which is why the risk is high after surgery.

For­tu­nate­ly, there are sev­er­al ways to pre­vent blood clots.

Look Out for Signs That You Need Emer­gency Care

Recov­ery from a same-day pro­ce­dure is very safe – your care team wouldn’t send you home if they weren’t con­fi­dent that you would be safe there.

How­ev­er, all surg­eries do come with a few risks. Call your sur­geon if you have pain that doesn’t go away or gets worse, devel­op a fever over 101°F, or have con­tin­u­ous vom­it­ing. Know the signs of an emer­gency, and get med­ical help right away if you experience:

• Pain, red­ness, and swelling in your leg that is warm to the touch
• Sud­den weak­ness or numb­ness in your arms or legs
• Short­ness of breath
• Cough­ing up blood
• Pain in your arm, chest, or upper back
• Severe pain

At Any Time

From plan­ning your surgery to check­ing in after you’ve recov­ered, and every­thing in between, your provider is there for you. Don’t hes­i­tate to reach out any time you have ques­tions or con­cerns – their goal is to keep you safe and help you feel com­fort­able as you recov­er from surgery.

Have ques­tions about an upcom­ing ortho­pe­dic surgery? Reach out to your South Bend Clin­ic ortho­pe­dist or pri­ma­ry care provider.