Preparing for Surgery

Patient Instruction

We sign patients up for surgery after they have met with our team in clinic. At that time, we will provide you with contact information for our surgery schedulers. Based off insurance and type of surgery, you will have an option of having surgery with Dr. McCarty at four different locations.

Surgery Locations

Prior to Surgery

If you use an extensive list of prescription and over the counter medications, or have several allergies, please contact the Pre-Surgery Testing nurse, so that he/she will be well prepared for any additional testing you may require. The PST nurse will tell you which medications you may take the morning of your procedure.

Quit taking blood thinning medications, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, coumadin, fish oil, etc. If you are taking prescription medication, contact your prescribing physician to appropriately regulate your treatments.

You are required to have someone else drive you home. Please be prepared with a driver, prior to your procedure. Also, consider which body part will be operated on and arrange for an appropriate vehicle to take you home. For example, if you are having knee surgery, and will be on crutches and in an immobilizer, consider the size and space you will need.

DO NOT eat, drink or chew anything, including water and gum, after midnight. You may brush your teeth but do not swallow the water

DO NOT eat or drink anything the morning or day of your procedure. Again, you may brush your teeth, but do not swallow the water.

Do not wear make-up, creams, lotions or deodorant unless specified by your doctor or the pre-surgery testing nurse.

Bring your insurance card.

Leave valuables, such as watches and jewelry at home.

You may want your friends or family to bring in personal toiletries for after surgery.

Your physician may have ordered you a brace or sling, which will be at the facility the day of your surgery.

Bring crutches, if required. You may rent crutches at most local grocery stores or pharmacies.

These medications need to be stopped 7 days before your surgery date:

Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil)
Naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve, Anaprox)
Diclofenac (Voltaren, Cataflam)
Indomethacin (Indocin)
Etodolac (Lodine)
Flurbiprofen (Ansaid)
Ketoprofin (Ordis, Oruvail)
Nabumetone (Relafen)
Oxaprozin (Daypro)
Piroxicam (Feldene)
Salsilate (Disalcid)
Sudlinac (Clinoril)
Meloxicam (Mobic)
Celebrex (Celecoxib)
Vitamin E
CoQ10

Other supplements

Aspirin* (Fiorinal, Norgesic, Soma, Ascriptin, Robaxisal)

*-If your doctor prescribed Aspirin for you, please contact your prescribing doctor and let them know you are going to have surgery.

*-If you are taking Aspirin preventatively and without a prescription, please discontinue use 7-10 days prior to your surgery.

It's okay to take:

Tylenol or Acetaminophen

If you are taking Coumadin, Eliquis, Plavix, Pradaxa, Xarelto or other blood thinners, you must contact your prescribing doctor before your pre-operative appointment or surgery date.

Patient Information

ICE

Dr. McCarty recommends using ice following surgery to help manage and resolve pain and swelling. There are multiple options to apply ice after surgery, from high tech to basic ice bags.

A few important notes:

Plan to ice almost continuously for the first 48 hours after surgery and through the first week.
Always have a fabric barrier (t-shirt or towel) between your skin and ice device to prevent frost bite and injury to skin.
Bring your ice device to surgery or confirm with the ice company representative your device will be delivered to the surgery center, we will put it on as you wake up and ensure it is working before you leave the surgery center/hospital.

Whether you are using an ice machine or ice bags you will likely need to supplement your ice maker at home with ice bags from the store.

None of these will be covered by insurance. It will be your responsibility to cover the costs of any of these options. If your insurance states that they will cover the ice machine, it will be your responsibility to send your insurance the bill. If you utilize ice bags only (plastic bags or ice packs purchased from a store), plan to have multiple on hand so you can continuously ice the surgical site.

We use four different types of ice machines. If you would like one, please contact Mekenna to get it coordinated and to discuss the current price.

NICE
Description: Motorized unit that has both compression and cold therapy. You do not need to fill the machine up with ice, rather you use water to circulate cold.

ICEMAN by DonJoy
Description: Motorized ice chest, ice sleeve

GAMEREADY
Description: Motorized unit has both compression and cold therapy

POLARCARE by Breg
Description: Motorized ice chest, ice sleeve
*this option is only available if you would like to pick up the machine from the Steadman Hawkins office

You will get a call from Mekenna, ATC one to two weeks prior to surgery to make sure that everything is coordinated ahead of time. Important things that need to be set up are a post-operative appointment and physical therapy. We will also discuss post-operative medications at that time. We recommend that you have tylenol at home to be used as an alternative to pain medication as your pain lessons. We also recommend that you have an over the counter stool softener and laxative at home in case you have constipation due to medication.