Knee replacement

What to do: The full list, and when to stop each, is on its own page. The general rule: confirm every item with your doctor up to two weeks before. Normal cooking amounts are a different matter from taking something as a tablet or extract.

What to do: People often do not count Ayurvedic and home preparations as medicines and leave them out. That is the commonest and most important omission. Carry the packets, or photograph them on your phone — better than trying to remember names.

What to do: Stop the day you are given a date. That includes tobacco, gutkha and beedi. Ask your doctor for help stopping — the date of an operation is the best opening you will get.

What to do: Walk daily, as much as you can manage. Start the deep-breathing practice now — it will feel easy later. Protein at every meal. Get anaemia corrected in advance. If you have diabetes, get it under control — uncontrolled sugar is the biggest single obstacle to a wound healing.

What to do: Follow the hospital's fasting instructions, not the internet's. Cut your nails and take off nail polish — the oxygen probe clips onto a finger. Leave all jewellery at home. Loose clothes. Carry your medicine list and old reports. Arrange for someone to be with you for the first week back. Clear the path to the toilet, and put water and essentials within reach of the bed.

What to do: Something at every meal: dal, rajma, chana, curd, paneer, egg, fish, chicken soup, moong, sattu, milk. If you are vegetarian, eat dal with rice — together they make a complete protein. If you have kidney disease, ask your doctor before increasing protein.

What to do: Green leafy vegetables, beetroot, pomegranate, dates, jaggery, til, rajma. With something sour alongside — lemon, amla, orange — which multiplies how much iron is absorbed. Do not drink tea straight after a meal; it blocks iron. Leave an hour.

What to do: Water through the day, a little at a time rather than all at once. Soaked figs, raisins, munakka at night. Papaya, guava, apple with the skin. Isabgol with a full glass — with too little water it does the opposite. Build fibre up slowly or it brings gas.

What to do: Something every two or three hours. A share of protein each time. Liquids count — dal water, soup, buttermilk, milk, sattu. When eating is hard, drinks are the easiest way in.

What to do: Deep-fried and heavily spiced food — the stomach cannot handle it in the first weeks. Alcohol — it slows healing and is dangerous alongside painkillers. Smoking — it cuts the oxygen reaching the wound, and is the single most avoidable cause of a wound going wrong. Cut, open street food until your strength is back.

What to do: Sip water through the day. Soaked raisins, figs or munakka at night. Warm water first thing. Isabgol with a full glass of water. And walk as soon as you are allowed — movement wakes the bowel faster than anything else. Ask your doctor for a stool softener early, rather than once it has set in.

What to do: Curd or buttermilk with meals — but keep two hours between it and the antibiotic dose. Rice water, banana, khichdi. Keep your fluids up, ORS if needed. Do not stop the course on your own. Watery motions with fever or blood are not a home matter — see a doctor.

What to do: Sips, not glasses. Dry roti, khichdi, plain rice. Once you are allowed, a slice of ginger or dry ginger in warm water. Stay off fried and strong-smelling food for a day. If vomiting keeps up and even water will not stay down, tell your doctor.

What to do: Warm salt-water gargles once you are allowed. Warm liquids — soup, turmeric milk. Honey in warm water (not for babies under one). Rest the voice, and do not whisper — whispering strains it more than speaking softly.

What to do: Less at a time, six times a day. Something with protein each time — dal, curd, paneer, egg, sattu. Jeera or ajwain water before eating. A sour taste opens the appetite — lemon, amla, pomegranate. Six small plates beat one forced large one.

What to do: Take it with something sour — lemon water or amla — which helps the iron absorb. Not with tea, milk or a calcium tablet, which block it. Add fibre and water alongside.

What to do: Protein and iron at every meal. Get your haemoglobin checked — a deficiency often shows up here. Handle the hair gently, no tight ties, no hot dryer. Do not start harsh treatments: the hair is not diseased, it needs time.

What to do: Only after the wound has fully closed and your doctor agrees — a few minutes of gentle massage daily with a plain oil, coconut or sesame. Keep the scar out of the sun or covered; sunlight darkens it. Never put turmeric, ash or any powder on a fresh or open wound — that is a direct route to infection.

What to do: Tell the nurse or doctor so a different dressing is used next time. Keep the area dry. Plain coconut oil once the skin is intact. Do not scratch — a scratched rash can get infected. Blisters or any pus need to be looked at.

What to do: Protein at every meal. Get checked for anaemia. Some sunlight daily. Start walking short and add a little each week — judge it by weeks, not days. On a day you overdo it, do less the next day rather than stopping.

What to do: Keep the part above heart level as much as you can. Keep working the ankle up and down. Go easy on salt. But note the difference — swelling in one calf with pain and warmth points to a clot; do not massage or apply heat, go straight to a doctor.

What to do: Every waking hour: pull both feet towards you and point them away, twenty times. Do not keep a pillow permanently under the knees. Whenever you are allowed, get out of bed and take a few steps — that beats any medicine for this. If compression stockings were given, keep them on.

What to do: Ten deep breaths every hour — in through the nose, hold for two, slowly out through the mouth. Then one huff — mouth open, push the air out fast, not a cough. Press a pillow against the wound while coughing or huffing; it cuts the pain a great deal. If you were given a spirometer, use it as often as instructed.

What to do: Water through the day. Soaked figs or raisins at night. Warm water in the morning. Eat sitting up in bed rather than lying down. Do not hold it back and do not strain — straining is the worst thing for abdominal stitches. If it goes past three days, tell your doctor.

What to do: Change position every two hours, at night as well. A soft pillow under the heels, or lift them clear of the bed. Keep the sheet free of creases. Look at the skin once a day — redness that does not go pale when pressed is the first warning.

What to do: Whatever can be done in bed: tighten the thigh, work the ankle, squeeze the buttocks, lift the arms. Keep moving whatever was not operated on — the other leg, both arms. Protein at every meal. Complete rest only when a doctor has specifically said so, never by your own decision.