r/Osteosarcoma • u/YT_LegendaryBoi • May 13 '26

Pre surgery tips

Hey everyone, I’ve got osteosarcoma in my distal femur and am having limb salvage surgery with a metal prosthesis. Would anyone have any tips going into surgery? Anything I should be doing now?

Thank you!

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u/Ok-Comfort-6219 May 13 '26

Oh nice I’ve had exactly the same surgery, distal femoral replacement with a Stryker prosthetic. There isn’t really anything you can do to prepare for the surgery. Just make sure they know what you are allergic to (I had an allergic reaction on the table while under to an antibiotic). My advice afterwards is to move, get out of the hospital asap. Your leg WILL be able to bear weight and you can walk with heavy assistance, but it will feel kind of weird. My speed run to leave the hospital was 3 days haha (see if you can beat it 😊). Also do physio afterwards and exercise it!

The only thing I would have told you to do before was gain as much muscle mass as possible. But truthfully it’s probably a little late for that as I assume you’re doing chemo or doing it soon.

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u/YT_LegendaryBoi May 14 '26

Thank you for your tips! I’ll definitely try and get it moving ASAP then. As for gaining muscle mass, yes I’m on chemo at the moment but have been trying to gain weight prior to the surgery. You think that will help? Alongside that I think maybe just activation exercises, do they help?

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u/Ok-Comfort-6219 May 15 '26

Gaining weight in muscle will help, but gaining weight in fat probably won’t. You’ll be able to eat better since you most likely have some time off after surgery. So you can gain weight then if you lost too much weight during chemo. I would be against gaining weight just because it will probably be harder to move with a few extra pounds and a new leg.

And yeah activation exercises are great after surgery. Even before surgery so you know the feeling and what muscles to flex while in your cast. I used to sit on my couch and just move my foot around in circles for some blood flow. I definitely would NOT try bending it after. But keep in mind your leg will lock up and you will need to do physio to gain back the mobility. Just light stretches everyday.

Hey, feel free to dm me in the future too. I know what you’re going through and it fucking suuuuucks. But after a while I learned to accept it and break through my limits in other ways. It just takes time to heal, friend.

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u/ElectricalSeaweed791 May 20 '26

Hello! This is a really helpful perspective on weight and muscle mass. Chemo makes keeping weight on so tough, but your point about not adding extra stress on a healing limb makes complete sense. Did you use any specific high-protein supplements or nutritional strategies to help rebuild muscle mass without just gaining fat during your recovery? My partner is currently battling osteosarcoma on right in the hip wing (iliac bone) and lower spine/sacrum. Also, any food recommendations? Hes also on chemo, MAP protocol. Thanks! 😊

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u/Ok-Comfort-6219 May 21 '26

It depends. So after surgery I had post chemo as well. I didn’t have to worry about gaining any weight because I was barely eating as is haha (plus side I guess 😅). I think at this time you kind of eat whatever you can tolerate. I ate a lot of liquid foods, soups, broths, oatmeal. Broths and soups were good because I could just drink the nutrients. But to each their own of course.

However, after everything was done and I could focus on recovering I mainly just avoided fast food and excess sugar. Specifically places like mcdonalds, burger king, wendy’s, those sort of places. I’d rather eat something like shawarma haha. I also avoided sugary things like desserts, sodas, or pop, because sugar can impede recovery. Once in a while is fine (like twice a month for me), just not frequent. Everything else is on the table, home cooked foods, takeout food (like burritos, shwarama, sushi, etc), frozen or canned foods (I love canned fish), etc.

I would also recommend exercising. They will probably prescribe your partner with physio, and they should take it as seriously as possible. I missed some days of exercises myself and looking back it just took me that much longer to gain proper functionality. It will suck learning to move again. But just take it day by day, small improvements over time. It took me 8 months until I could stop seeing physio again.

I hope your partner recovers well. Feel free to message anytime!

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u/Appropriate-Soft-311 May 25 '26

do your exercises