Care After Surgery

Wound Care:

Dr. Wilkinson placed sterile dressings on your incisions and no active wound care is required. Leave the dressings in place until follow up in clinic. Do not get the dressings, wound, cast, splint or brace wet. You may remove your brace, or sling for hygiene but be careful to maintain any weightbearing or movement restrictions. Please continue to use the antibacterial body soap (i.e., Dial AntiBacterial Soap) until your wounds are sealed.

After your first postop visit, you may let soapy water run over your wounds but do not scrub the healing incisions. There will be steristrips over your wound that should remain until they fall off.

Dr. Wilkinson does not recommend any creams on your incisions before 4 weeks post surgery while the incisions are still healing. Do not submerge your wounds in water for 4 weeks (tub, hot tub, pool, bay, ocean, etc.).

Crutches, Brace, Sling:

If you were provided a sling, brace or crutches to be used after surgery, it is meant to support the surgical repair. Please wear the brace or sling as directed. You may remove the items for hygiene only and in the first weeks after surgery you should sleep in the brace or sling. If your injury required surgery to repair it, if you do not follow the restrictions after surgery it may require further surgery to repair your injury again.

Physical Therapy:

Physical therapy is an extremely important aspect of your recovery. Surgery can restore your anatomy but therapy truly restores your function - movement and strength. An injury that has been restored but lacks full motion or strength will not allow you to return to the activities you desire.

Dr. Wilkinson will ensure you have full motion in the operating room, but your first goal after surgery is to regain your full motion. This will require some personal discomfort and persistent effort at therapy and at home. Therapy will provide a program to direct your efforts. The more you do your exercises, the better your recovery will progress. There is a limited amount of time to regain your motion. If you do not make progress in this window, surgery may be indicated to restore your motion.

Strength is the next goal after motion and it may be obtained at anytime after healing of your injury. Strength is only restored through exercises. This will also require personal consistency, discomfort, and determination. If your operative extremity is not the same strength as your other limb, they will not feel the same during activities. Until both limbs are the same, you will be dissatisfied with its function. Exercises are the way to achieve the results you expect.

If you have trouble with scheduling therapy at anytime, please contact the clinic so we can help you.

Many surgeries will require therapy for at least 4-6 months. Some surgeries may have therapy for 9+ months. Set your goal, and let that goal power your exercises.

Medications:

You were prescribed pain medications after surgery. Dr. Wilkinson recommends taking a combination of medications allowing you to benefit from the different actions of each medication. The pain medications are all scheduled every 6 hours. He recommends taking Tylenol and the narcotic medication at the same time and then Ibuprofen in between to stagger the pain control effects. If you do not need pain medications, you do not have to take them. If your block is still active, it is recommended you take a medication before sleep in case the block begins to wear off over night. If you are having difficulty with pain control, please contact us at the number below to assist in making changes including loosening bandages/braces, elevating the extremity, or changing medication regimens.

If you were prescribed a medication for blood clot prevention, you should take this medication as directed. You should complete the course of this medication as directed.

Dr. Wilkinson encourages all patients take a multivitamin and a combination tablet of Calcium/Vitamin D over the counter daily. Please select one that has at least 600 mg Calcium and 800 IU of Vitamin D (i.e., Caltrate). Take the vitamins for at least 3 months after surgery. We will often also check your Vitamin D level with a blood draw if clinically concerned. If this value is low, we will prescribe a higher dose of Vit D.

Driving:

Please refrain from driving until you are off all strong pain medications and you have full control of the extremity. You may have a family member or friend verify your ability to drive safely in a parking lot.

Issues After Surgery:

Please let us know immediately if you have any persistent fevers (above 101.4 degrees F), sudden increase in pain and swelling, increased numbness or weakness, deep calf pain/swelling or shortness of breath.  Please call our office first if during business hours.  Please do not wait until the end of the day to call.  We will advise if it best to come to the clinic or go to the emergency room. 

Contact Number:

For questions call Dr. Wilkinson’s clinic at 956-362-6683 (option 1). If it is after hours, your call will go to an answering service who may help you.