I'm driving from St. Louis to Kansas City for the surgery. It's scheduled for a friday. My Mom lives in KC so we're staying with her and can stay all weekend if needed, however, my husband really wants to get back Saturday night for a very close friends 40th b-day party. He understands that if I'm not up to we won't make the 4 hour drive back just yet though.

How did you guys feel? Do you think it will be ok to drive back the day after? We have a mini van so I'll have plenty of room?

TIA

I think you should wait and see how you feel. Its great that your husband has a party he wants to go to, but you're having (pretty major) surgery, so theres a good chance that you're not going to want to sit in a car for 4 hours. My mom's closest friend was having a party the day after my surgery and she cancelled her RSVP. If you push yourself too hard after surgery, there is a greater risk of complications. Good luck.

I think you have to go with your plan....that it depends on how you feel. As you may have deduced from other postings about how long it was before people went back to work or started exercising or whatever, we vary dramatically. I could have done the trip with no problem, but that most definitely isn't so for others.

Same question here - but we have 6.5 hours to drive home! DH wants to leave the day after surgery so that he can get back to work (surgery is scheduled for a Tuesday). Is this realistic? We are staying at a hotel.

I could have traveled the next day but everybody is different. I would play it by ear and see how it goes.

Honestly the BIG thing about that is the risk of blood clots because you'll be fairly sedentary, with your legs down, for long stretches. Check with your surgeon; he may want you to make sure you stop every so often (like every 40 minutes or so) and walk.

If he gives you the go ahead and you're up to it, taking a pillow to brace your surgical sites will help a lot.

As for feeling up to it, I would've been up for a car trip on day 2, as long as I could take my tylenol, and as I long as I didn't let my husband control the music!

Since I was an out-of-towner, my doc asked that I stay in town two nights. I had surgery on Wednesday and was cleared to leave on Friday. Thursday afternoon I knew I was not up for an eight-hour ride home so we chose to stay one more day. That was perfect for me.

My doc (bless his conservative soul!) wants all his patients who live more than an hour away (and even though I'm in the same city, depending on traffic it can be more than an hour to go that 14 miles! LOL) to spend a week in town, just to make sure all is ok. Very few last the week because they feel better and go home, but there are many reasons to not travel that soon post op. People do, of course. That's why the surgeon can help head off any foreseeable trouble (like clots)...so the surgeon is the best one to ask.

I only had a 30 minute drive home and I would say that I was in pain because my mom drives an SUV so it isn't smooth could feel every bump. but i think i could have gone farther if i didn't feel all the bumps. bring a pillow to put between yourself and the seatbelt. And depending on what drugs you get maybe they will put you to sleep on the way home!

You will probably want to stay at least the first night after surgery. It depends on how you feel. I was told not to drive for the first couple of days or take long car rides.

I had surgery at around 11:00 on 7/28 and I was in a car driving 6 hours home the next day, left around 1:00. It wasn't comfortable but I did it. We stopped every 2 hours so I could walk for 5 minutes. I had a pillow between me and the seatbelt.

But . . . it will just depend on how you feel

The pillow is a very good suggestion. In my experience there would have been no way for me to travel the first week after surgery. Definatly play it by ear.

Just curious..............why did you decide on KC when there are several surgeons in STL?

Talk to your surgeon to make sure, but I was just banded on Aug 11 (yea) in KC and went home to Ava the next day. It was about a four hour trip, and I made sure to stop and walk about three times and I braced myself with a pillow all the way, but the trip wasn't too bad.

im also a little curious as to the KC decision. I just had my surgery in STL ( live here of course) July 16th. My surgeon was FANTASTIC.

I am suddenly very happy that I live 10 minutes away from my clinic. I've had major surgery before and I woudn't have been that thrilled to hop into the car for an 8 hour ride.

I don't know about anybody else, but after my last surgery, the worst were days 3-6 after my surgery when my body got all achey. I would probably been even worse those days for a long travel. But then, I have fibromyalgia, which makes me freakish and weird.

Can't you make an extended trip out of it and have your hubby pick you up again the next weekend?