I am hoping for surgery end of December (if I manage to jump through all the hoops by then). Have tentatively planned travel to Taiwan for Chinese New Year (2/19) to visit my son in grad school there. Nurse said no international travel for 3 months post op. Should I chance it or plan on surgery in March? I really hate to wait until March now that I have the process started, not to mention if the surgery date is in 2015 I will have to pay my high deductible for 2014 and 2015 ($4000.00/per year). Any thoughts?

listen to the nurse and surgeon they are only looking out for your best interest I would defiantly not travel if they said not to. I would go through with the surgery as planned in December then hold off for the 3 months because no one wants to get started on approval for surgery then be held back plus think of how much better you will feel and look when you do get to see your son. best of luck hope this helps

I heard it takes up to 6 months to fully be out of the leak risk zone... but the first 6 weeks are the most critical according to my doctor... ultimately the choice is yours but I would think you could make the trip... it may be a long flight and you will want to watch what you eat and what physical activity you have... you probably dont want to get sick and throw up during the trip, but if you are careful, then you should be fine... the doctors office however does tell you what to do for a reason, and usually it is in the best interest of the patient...

Thank you for your responses. Very different thoughts. I am still unsure about the travel but will give myself a few weeks to decide before I purchase the tickets.

its so crazy the different responses. I told my surgeon I have a work trip to China the last week in February and it was important I know how long after surgery I can fly/travel. He said 10 days.

That answer kind of shocked me, I'd like at least a month, although I think the liquid diet would be far easier to deal with in China than blended or soft. Last time I was there, they served a lot of fish (not a big fish eater) but they could never tell me what type of fish, other than "river fish".