The advice giving to me by my doctor at the time was to get in as best shape as possible prior to having surgery. It was also recommended that I donate blood because I would be needed it for my surgery.
After months of chiropractic care, massages and physical therapy, I was doing okay and I started exercising regularly, again. I would do about an hour of cardio on the treadmill, elliptical or stair machine. I did strength training for my abs and legs. In retrospect, the best exercises I did were squats for my hips and thighs. This is because after surgery, it is very painful to move and I often needed to rely on the strength of my legs and hips to get in out of bed. My torso was in no shape to assist in movement.
I tried to donate blood, but personally have problems. My veins are small and the blood flowed out so slowly that the blood center stopped it and told that I would not be able to donate my own blood for my surgery. Oh well, not a big deal anyway I later learned.
Attended a support group offered at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and got the chance to talk to other patients post surgery and solicited their advice and listened to their experiences.
I notified my insurance carrier and arranged to future time off at work through my supervisor and HR department. I recently started working there and so scheduled my surgery after I had been there 1 year so I would qualify for FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act-12 week job protection for medical leave). Because of the extensive nature of the surgery I was going to be taking the full 12 weeks off from work for recovery.
After months of chiropractic care, massages and physical therapy, I was doing okay and I started exercising regularly, again. I would do about an hour of cardio on the treadmill, elliptical or stair machine. I did strength training for my abs and legs. In retrospect, the best exercises I did were squats for my hips and thighs. This is because after surgery, it is very painful to move and I often needed to rely on the strength of my legs and hips to get in out of bed. My torso was in no shape to assist in movement.
I tried to donate blood, but personally have problems. My veins are small and the blood flowed out so slowly that the blood center stopped it and told that I would not be able to donate my own blood for my surgery. Oh well, not a big deal anyway I later learned.
Attended a support group offered at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and got the chance to talk to other patients post surgery and solicited their advice and listened to their experiences.
I notified my insurance carrier and arranged to future time off at work through my supervisor and HR department. I recently started working there and so scheduled my surgery after I had been there 1 year so I would qualify for FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act-12 week job protection for medical leave). Because of the extensive nature of the surgery I was going to be taking the full 12 weeks off from work for recovery.
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