I have just had BHR on May 22nd with Dr. MacKenzie in Calgary and have been advised not to fly for 3 months for a fear of blood clots. I was considering a 6 hour flight June 21st but have cancelled it and but may consider a 5 hour flight the end of August. Any feedback?
Cheers
Kevin
No expert, but Dr. Gross has a lot of out of state patients; he let me fly home on Surgery+3, and I think that is typical of his protocol.
Mike
Addendum: As I said, I am no expert. Though I tend to doubt it, perhaps there is some specific reason for the caution on your case?
Hi. It seems they all have their own protocols. Andrew Shimmin wouldn't let me fly for 7 days post surgery and then I had to self administer Clexane for 5 weeks. And that was for a 1 1/2 hour flight! Clots and infection were the biggest of his concerns. They're all different in their approaches!
I spoke to another doctor the day of my discharge from the hospital and he said the biggest issue with blood clots was the lack of movement and not the change in pressure, he said put on some good music and get happy feet in my seat. So that convinced me to take the 1.25 hour flight home without any issues, and that was the Tuesday morning after my Friday surgery. I need to take a 5 hour flight at the end of August and will check with my orthopaedic surgeon at my 6 week check up, but I need to take the same flight back to Calgary so....I think it is a general policy and each person to consider the risks based on health, length of flight, recovery etc.
I definitely wanna say listen to your doctor, but you should also know that De Smet has done hip surgeries on literally thousands of medical tourists (many from the US) who make long plane trips home 10 or so days after surgery with no ill effects. I myself traveled home to Argentina from Belgium less than two weeks after surgery on two different occasions and it really wasn't that big of a deal for me.
:) Hi Kevin. They maybe all different. De Smet I flew 28 hours Belgium back to New Zealand. Up every hour for a hobble, Used Fraxiparine and was realitively healthy. I am still ok. about 2 weeks before I flew. Cheers K
Hi Fellow Kiwi Karlos,
Great to hear you are progressing ok. Im from the NAKI, and still a Hurricanes fan !!! ;) . I am nearly 12 months Post op. from here , done in Auckland, North Shore.
All the best in your re-hab, and its a Marathon mate, not a Sprint !!!, so take things easy. It may seem a long haul, but we are all in the same boat, so hang in there.
Cheers,
Shorty. [New Plymouth]. ;D
:) ;) Ta Shorty. Yep no probs, Just an indicator for Kevin and the differences of some surgeons world wide. Sweet as Cheers K