Newly Diagnosed with Questions

[4cm in Pacific Northwest]

RE Flights home after surgery

Well I had a nice big 4cm removed surgically removed and some post op CSF leaks plus swelling… 3 weeks later they druged me with Diamox and sent me on a plane home (Palto Alto CA to Portland OR) . SO yes - post treatment patients do fly. I was fine on the flight- I only really felt it on the 'descent' (ie coming in for the landing landing) … I was so loopy from the Diamox and percocet combined cocktail    they prescribed I think I was too drugged to notice.  We contacted the airline ahead of time and an attendant had a wheelchair there -waiting for us at both ends. They will even permit you to have a pick up car parked in the loading bay… (Our family van was ready with blankets and pillow as I lay in the back seat)

Both surgeons and airlines seemed well set up to transport post-op surgery patients. I recommend flying first class on the way home-  as those little perks just ease the trip.  However sadly I had to decline the included chardonnay and other bevies. 

Cheers,

4

[OMG16]

Steve I wish we got frequent flyer miles for every dollar spent, we would then have to fly to Palm Springs for a Vacation! 

The drugged post op patient with complications seems to be a theme.  I think they should have drugged the parents in our case.  It was an experience to say the least.  16

[lori67]

4 - I'm pretty sure your first class cocktail was a lot stiffer than what the other passengers up there were getting!

And 16 - you crack me up! What a great sense of humor you have.  Good thing, huh?   

Now getting back to the question of flying - I didn't ask about it until about 4 weeks post-op, but my surgeon said it would be fine to fly.  On a plane.  I guess he didn't want me trying my Wonder Woman impression or something.  And I thought I had asked him to put those super hero powers in when he took the tumor out...  Just what you need - a brain surgeon who aspires to be a comedian.

Lori

[OMG16]

Thanks Lori we could not have gotten through all of this without our sometimes morbid sense of humor.

I love a Neurosurgeon with a sense of humor they are usually so impersonal.  I hope you took his advice and did not try to fly on your own.  16