First long distance surgery, two of my sisters were doing the driving and navigating. I was already flared from travel earlier in the week, but for some reason we thought it was a great idea to leave super early morning of surgery, drive the three hours, then outpatient surgery, drive back yet same day. I was exhausted, flared, surgeon gave different pain medication than I was used to and was dealing with side effects from that, surgery was a Friday, so sort of stuck over the weekend. When I was scheduled for the next long distance surgery a few years later, I was really nervous based on this initial experience. However, for the next surgery, surgeon asked that I plan to stay overnight in the area, then start PT there next morning with one of his recommended PTs, then OK to travel home after that. Surgery time was early enough that I drove up (with a sister) day before surgery. That worked so much better!
For the trip home, I was recommended by surgeon's office to stop often to move around, but physical therapist had told my sister if I was asleep, to just keep driving. This meant she drove past a rest stop, I woke about ten minutes later stiff, uncomfortable, so had to find somewhere to stop, let me get out to "walk" (with crutches) a bit. Had quite a bit of swelling by the time we got home. With the next long distance surgery, I was more awake, and we just made sure to touch base, stop often. That went better.
For travel after surgery, I recline the seat fully, have something to prop surgical side with--foot if leg-related surgery, arm if arm-related, etc. Pillows for support, throw blankets to roll for support, or to cover if chilled from icing. I have my good ice packs that stay cold longer with me.
This time will be a longer distance and shoulder instead of hips. Apprehensive. Planning to carry forward all that has worked in the past, plus a few new ideas. Hotel reservations are made for same hotel as last two surgeries as they have done well. They have let us borrow a wheel chair to get me from car to room after surgery, and from room to car when checking out. They have let me keep my ice packs in their freezer so they are really good and cold prior to travel. Traveling there day before surgery, staying overnight, then surgery, stay overnight after surgery, then surgeon said alright to travel home. Planning to bring ice machine again as that has helped in the hotel. However this time, we are planning to run it in the car as well on the way home.
Update written post-op, post-travel
The plans went well! For being nervous about the distance, of travel itself, of hotel set up for shoulder recovery, etc., things went so well. So grateful! I had brought my zero gravity lawn chair that I have used with other recoveries, my cold therapy machine and used both at the hotel and it worked well. (Links to both are in this post on preparing for surgery.) The cold therapy machine worked quite well in the car, too! I started out with my ice packs since they were good and cold and changed them every stop, or about every hour or so. About halfway through the trip, ice packs were exhausted, warm and squishy, not helpful. So, switched to using the cold therapy machine. It could not get as cold as ice packs had, but was far more effective than spent ice packs! My sister had a converter so we plugged that into a cigarette lighter, then the ice machine into that, thus could run it continuously. Normally, continuous icing is not a good idea, but with bulky post-surgery bandages, the cold from constant icing still cannot truly penetrate to level of incisions/surgical site. I have learned to ice 24/7 until bulky bandage is off. If the ice pack or pad to ice machine extends beyond bandage to bare skin, I make sure to have a barrier between it and skin that is as thick as the bandage to avoid frost-bite. I also check skin often to make sure things are OK.
What I learned
A zero gravity chair makes for a comfy recovery spot post-op shoulder. However, because it has no sides to speak of above arm rests, we had the chair between end of bed and a desk at the hotel and them stuffed pillows between desk and chair and between bed and chair for support to help hold in place the pillows I was using to support me. Once home, I figured out taking a large blanket and putting it on top of the body pillow I use for a cushion, then putting in all of my rolled blankets and pillows for support. I wrap myself and all of my support items into the chair, holding all in place. It actually works quite well, is very comfortable and I have been sleeping much better than pre-op.
Advance planning can really help! The travel went so much better than I had thought and hoped. Thinking ahead and having things available was worth it and helped things go smoothly.
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