I haven't yet had the surgery but I did get a consult from Dr Sanders. His office mgr, Cathy, is very very helpful. Regarding when to fly: she said they want you to fly out during a very particular window of time as she said you feel ok from the hospital iv meds but will later feel pretty bad. They have a lot of patients that travel for surgery and have the whole protocol well figured out. And it changes depending on whether or not he takes the rib.