Driving home from surgery

[coopspa 2]

After much soul searching and much research I have decided to have my surgery in Mexico a the end of the year. I am nervousbut confidant in my decision. The one thing that concerns me is the flight there. I hate, hate, HATE to fly. I avoid it at all costs. I live in Utah and San Diego is a 10 hr drive. Do you think I would be able to drive (well, my husband, I'll be sleeping in the back) after surgery? Would it be too uncomfortable/painful? We could stop in Vegas and make it two five hour days, but part of me thinks I would just want to be home.

Thoughts from those who have gone before?

[Kimmy1813 77]

You are probably going to need to stop more than once during a 10 hour drive.....doctors like you to walk some every hour to help prevent blood clots.

Good luck on your surgery

[Kimmy1813 77]

Sorry, read it wrong.....realized you said two five hour days.....but I would still stop during the five hour drives at least a couple of times to get up and move around.

[gamergirl 4,609]

So I drove from DFW to San Antonio and then there was the drive from there to Piedras Negras. By the time we had the van drop us, got into our own car, took breaks and stops, etc. we had been on the road for 12 straight hours. Others were surprised that this was even possible to do, 2 days after surgery, and when i see other's posts about their condition 2 days after surgery, I realize I got very, very lucky indeed.

One thing for sure: I would not recommend doing that in 1 day AT ALL. I just happened to be okay that day. If your recovery is not that smooth, it would make a miserable drive. Secondly, note that you will need to get out every two hours and stretch so as to avoid blood clots, and you should factor that into your drive time estimate. It may normally be a 10 hour drive, but with you in recovery, it may be longer than that.

For example, Piedras Negras to DFW is 7 hours but as I said it took us 12 hours and one hour of that was a nap at my son's apartment which I desperately needed.

If you can afford to fly, and unless you hate it so much that you need to be massively drugged to get on the flight, maybe consider just exactly how much you'd hate flying

[Macy6 356]

I had a 10 minute drive and it couldn't go fast enough! Every bump was torture, and I have had what I think is a relatively easy recovery and they gave me pain medicine and zofran shortly before I left.

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

It all depends on your recovery. I could have done the driving. A lot f us flew several hours and that's about the same. I drove three hours home from airport.

[Pookeyism 1,143]

If you make the drive like that, at least consider doing some homework on some places you can stop, where the local clinic would be, etc. Should you have a complication that would need attention urgently. Keep a really good, consice list of what was done, what meds you are on, etc.

I had complications mid-flight (a long story, on my way back from my Mom's funeral after surgery). I cannot imagine having gone though that in a car, on Nevada roads, and then have to stop ? somewhere?

Is it one of the docs that will meet you across the border on the US side? Maybe you could get a really inexpensive rental car and drive down (check groupon and the like for rental car discounts), they meet you like they were picking someone up at the airport (saving you the cost of an international rental). and drop you back stateside again, then you fly home? or you fly home and hubby drives?

[LipstickLady 25,682]

I had a 30 minute drive home and wanted to die. Every bump, every turn, every quick stop about killed me and about 15 minutes into the ride, I was so nauseated, I was positive I was going to hurl. The only reason I didn't ask my mom to pull over was because I knew the braking along with the lane changing would have put me over the edge.

But that was just me.

[indecision 863]

I am sure it can be done but man I would not want to sit in a car for that long after a surgery.

[JSCRIMPSHIRE 56]

My ride was about 30/45 minutes and I thought I would die. The vibration of the regular road was painful enough not to mention the bumps, railroad tracks, etc. I would not drive that long if I had another choice.