Author Topic: Can I fly after AN surgery?  (Read 4511 times)

stephSF

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Can I fly after AN surgery?
« on: November 21, 2011, 10:14:23 pm »
Hello.  Do the doctors allow people to fly after surgery?  I live in Northern CA and wanting to go with Dr. Freidman and company at House in Southern cA.  What do you think?
1.6 cm AN Translab with Dr.'s Friedman and Shwartz with HEI on 1-25-2012.  I am doing great!  Surgery saved my life :).   Be brave, have a great attitude, and hire the best surgical team!!!!

CHD63

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Re: Can I fly after AN surgery?
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2011, 07:37:53 am »
Hi Stephanie .....

There are a whole bunch of us on here who flew to House from many parts of this country ..... and from around the world.  I flew from the Eastern part of the U.S. 4 days before surgery (We wanted to do a bit of sight-seeing beforehand while there.) and flew home uneventfully 12 days post-op.  The docs there want their patients to wait 10 days before flying home.  Since I did not want to mess with having to change a reservation, I made it for 12 days and we did more sight-seeing afterwards before our flight home.

My husband was with me and I did request wheelchair assistance for the return flight so we could navigate LAX and a flight change in D.C. easier ..... very glad I did.  We also upgraded to Economy Plus on United and the extra leg room was wonderful.  I had no head/ear issues on the flight home ..... just fatigue due to some major weather delays in the Eastern US at the time.

Flying is not a problem .....

Clarice
Right MVD for trigeminal neuralgia, 1994, Pittsburgh, PA
Left retrosigmoid 2.6 cm AN removal, February, 2008, Duke U
Tumor regrew to 1.3 cm in February, 2011
Translab AN removal, May, 2011 at HEI, Friedman & Schwartz
Oticon Ponto Pro abutment implant at same time; processor added August, 2011

kareno

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Re: Can I fly after AN surgery?
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2011, 01:39:08 pm »

Hi Stephanie:

It was just 3 weeks after my husband had his 3 cm AN removed retrosigmoid and we flew to the Bahamas with our whole family.  He did perfectly fine on the plane and did not have any incidences at all.  Dr. Heilmann our wonderful surgeon from Tufts Medical Boston MA said it was okay but not to lift any luggage and he was unable to swim under water as well. Flying was not a problem.

Karen
Caregiver:  Husband 3.0cm diagnosed 1/10, Retrosigmoid Surgery 4/10 Tufts Medical CTR Boston, Dr. Carl Heilman-Exceptional Surgeon

leapyrtwins

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Re: Can I fly after AN surgery?
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2011, 06:46:20 pm »
Depends on the doc and his philosophy.

My doc didn't allow flying for 6 weeks after surgery, but as Clarice said, the docs @ HEI let their patients fly much sooner.

Jan
Retrosig 5/31/07 Drs. Battista & Kazan (Hinsdale, Illinois)
Left AN 3.0 cm (1.5 cm @ diagnosis 6 wks prior) SSD. BAHA implant 3/4/08 (Dr. Battista) Divino 6/4/08  BP100 4/2010 BAHA 5 8/2015

I don't actually "make" trouble..just kind of attract it, fine tune it, and apply it in new and exciting ways

JAndrews

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Re: Can I fly after AN surgery?
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2011, 07:34:42 pm »
I live in South Florida. I flew from House in LA back home 2 weeks after surgery. No problems. I did freak out a little when my ear on the good side wouldn't pop for a few days!
2.5cm x2.0cm cerebellapontine angle meningioma. 100% removal 2/2009. House Ear Institute. Dr Brackmann and Dr. Schwartz. SSD right ear. No balance problems except when really tired, no headaches. Transear hearing aide made no difference, tried it for 4 months.

mk

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Re: Can I fly after AN surgery?
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2011, 11:53:53 am »
I also flew home from the Canadian West coast to the East (5 hour flight, plus a 2 hour drive from the airport home), 13 days after my surgery. No problems at all. Unless there are complications, you should be OK.
I did allow myself the luxury of flying business class, which was great, because you get to sit in the 1st class lounge, you don't wait in line for security etc.

Marianna
GK on April 23rd 2008 for 2.9 cm AN at Toronto Western Hospital. Subsequent MRIs showed darkening initially, then growth. Retrosigmoid surgery on April 26th, 2011 with Drs. Akagami and Westerberg at Vancouver General Hospital. Graduallly lost hearing after GK and now SSD but no other issues.