Surgery for double knee replacement

Has anyone experienced surgery and hospitalization following DS? I expect I will have about 3 days in the hospital before I go home to my routine foods and supplements. Concerned with being able to avoid flatulence and diarrhea based on the usual hospital food. I am going to ask my surgeon about bringing in shakes and bars - just wondering if anyone has dealt with this sort of thing with a surgeon and hospital (Kaiser) not exactly knowledgeable on the subject.

I would talk to the ortho surgeon performing your knee replacement. I honestly wouldn't not worry about your vitamins for a few days (nothing will happen) unless there are meds you need to take. If you do want to take vitamins, just bring yours with you - if you try to get them through the hospital it will never work. When I was in the hospital I didn't bother and just brought my own vitamins - honestly don't even remember taking them.

Talk to the nurses taking care of you about the flatulence and diarrhea if you're worried. I guarantee they've seen it all and won't blink. That's what I did and they were great.

Have your visitors bring you whatever food you need (unless you're on some kind of restricted diet).

My only advice is to let them know you have malabsorption. Keep an eye on dehydration - make sure they give you plenty of fluids.

Thanks! I was thinking I would bring in some shakes to slip inbetween whatever meals they bring in. The food they served my sister last time she was in the hospital was just awful looking.

Vitamins not an issue for a couple of days. This is one of the reasons to stay on your vits so you don't have to worry about short term stops like this. In fact the one time I tried to get my vitamins in officially and it was such a pain I decided to either not worry about them or have a family member bring a few things in under the table

I've had two hospital stays post DS that lasted more than a day. I found the hospital food not that big an issue. It was mostly bland enough that it didn't cause me a problem for my BM's or gas. Knowing the were short term I didn't go out of my way to monitor my protein although I did eat protein first on my hospital meals.

Good luck with the new knees!!!

Pete

Thanks! Planning for it after the first of the year so I'll be up and out on my bike by spring!

I had knee replacement surgery 2 years ago, didn't have any issues with gas or diarrhea. I ate very little the 2 days before surgery so I wouldn't have that much to go. I would ask when the hospital calls about your supplements, I had to stop them before surgery but not sure how long it was. I don't remember what I ate in the hospital, seems like the pain medication didn't give me much of an appetite. I lost quite a lot of weight in the 2 months afterwards, went from 145 to 122. I'm back up to my normal weight now, took about a year.

Ruby

I am working hard to get the 10 lbs I gained back off (18 months on a new sedentary job really hit me hard but I have lost 5 lbs of it)- I didn't think about the fact that post surgery might be a weight loss event! Interesting. I was thinking that there might be some IV fluid full of glucose or something like that- which would really trigger a reaction for me.

I don't do well with sedation so I am considering just doing a spinal for the surgery - that is much easier for recovery and feeling better sooner, from what I hear. How long were you out of work or regular activity following your surgery?

I know for my plastics, I had to stop Vit E for 10 days before surgery. Most all multi's have Vit E. There was a company that makes packaged vits for the 10 days w/o E.

I just took some bars and shakes with me. If you can start bumping up your protein before surgery it will help your healing. I was doing extra shakes to get me up to 175-200g day. I also kept it up for 4+ months after plastics both times.

I teased my doc about throwing in a tuck or two while I was under...I like the idea of upping my protein in advance. Thanks!