Going abroad and I have no card saying I have a stim.
 

Well .. pffft .. I've just booked Mike and I a holiday to Greece. We're off next Tuesday for a week .. only thing is, I have nothing and was offered nothing, to show that I have a spinal cord stimulator.

Any ideas what I can do?

Can you contact one of the Drs or your primary care dr to fax, or email an official letter to show ??
Or the SCS company they should be able to fax or email something official & acceptable.

Or even overnight mail should get there by Monday.
That should be part of the deal...something official to show proof.

THE Card
 

Dear Saffy.... a Trip to Greece! That is Great!!

BOTH my surgeon and my company rep provided very explanatory plastic cards complete with descriptive data pertinent to the implanted devices, my name, the limitations on types of scanning for security, and the like along with contact information should security determine necessity to verify. I have been to our local airport Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, USA and have spoken with the chief of security there, who assured me that with such identification, and upon declaring myself as an implant patient, I would be segregated for screening by wand. Further, it was recommended that upon arrival at the airport if I obtained wheelchair assistance to make the long trek through security and the concourses I would as well receive special treatment in addition to the wanding. Lastly, I was assured all would go well especially since security is so familiar with the increasing number of implant patients these days.

So, as Jomar suggested be in touch with your rep/doc/consultant NOW seeking the required declaratory information via overnight!

Happy Trails to You and Hubby,
Mark56:D:D:hug:

Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have any proof, either. I've contacted Boston Scientific twice to get some proof and they say they are going to send it, but I have never received anything.

Definitely contact the company and/or your doctor... though I had no luck with that, I would assume that would be the proper course of action.

sorry to hear this. they gave me a card the day of surgery. with date and Dr.
hope ever thing goes well
Ron h :hug::grouphug:

I also recieved my card in the mail at 4 weeks. I actually forgot about it, so it is a good thing they send it... Like I will be flying in the near future.. lol :D

I tell you .. I know it's only been 2 weeks since surgery but this is going to aid my recovery more thnan anything. I can't wait to get in that sea !!!

Unfortunately the Nurse in charge of my stim doesn't work weekends but I am going to make an appointment with my normal doctor on Monday and get her to do me a letter.

That and the card
 

Saffy- She may even be able to issue you a card. My surgeon had his physician assistant take care of issuing me a card from the surgical practice explaining my situation so I have it for my wallet. So ask the nurse both for a letter and a card and you may receive both!

Pleasant trip!:sunchair::Heart:
Mark56:)

Thanks Mark. Will get in with my normal Doc on Monday and get her to write a letter if nothing else. Am sure I'll be ok. (Not sure about the Greek side .. perhaps I ought to look it up!!)

This is going to do me more good than anything! After my microdiscectomy, I was out in Santorini and on a quad bike less than a week after my op.

Kefalonia is my heart home, so I know that this is going to feed my soul.

I am as close to heaven there as I could possibly be ....

FYI!!! I flew the other week, and I can not get the pat down because of my pain, and so I decided to shut my stim off walk through security and turn it right back on and IT WORKED!!! yipppie. okay just thought id let you know and hopefully it works for you tooo!!! :)

Wow
 

Hannah, all I can say is :You-Rock: and your stim must be one whizzbang deal. Shoot, I have set off store shoplifting buzzers before just because I happened to walk in or out or both. Had to explain that one to the clerks. They got a thrill.

But, if that worked for you, then maybe Saffy will be OK too! Hope you get that letter or card or both, Saffy!! Go to Greece! Beach sounds good!
:)
Mark56:grouphug:

Is wand okay?
 

Mark-- is it okay to be screened with the wand? I thought we could only have the pat down. I have not flown since my implant last June. I may need to travel for business in the next few months

Aye, got to be honest, i thought it did damage if
You went through the scanner

The Scanner
 

This evening, Cleo and I made a LATE nite trip to the hospital because a dear friend had fallen in a sports stadium, fell three levels of steel bleacher seats hitting his pelvis each time. He broke his wrist and pelvis, internal bleeding was occurring. We feared for him and rushed down to the ER to be with the family.

I arrived at the ER where, of all things, they have a security guard [very officious] and a scanner. I took all of my metal from my pockets, including as well my SCS remote. Showed the guard my I.D. cards for the medical device implanted in me. Looked nervously at the scanner, told him I feared it. He replied that many folks with defibrilators and pacemakers have been through the unit and it had caused them no harm. I took a breath, stepped through, AND IMMEDIATELY SET OFF ALL OF THE SCAN DEVICE ALARMS. HA! The world did not come to an end. Guard said "They all do that," matter of factly. I did not die. My device still functioned. Then we went on to the ER room to see my friend.

The device looked like a metal detector style device commonly seen at airports, and was definitely NOT the ultra new "see you in the raw" style scanners now in use at Denver International Airport. I would fear the new scanner far more because it generates an image very much like an MRI, stripping each of us down one layer at a time. So, I have been through wanding, pat down, and the metal detector tonight. Think I will do all I can to avoid the newer image devices. Yep.

Mark56:winky::grouphug:

All good wishes to you friend Mark.

Phoned Donna today and she said you just walk through as normal .. tust tell them you have an implant .. then added, but they'll see it anyway!

Scanners
 

Hi guys,
I was told to never ever go through those scanners or use the wand because it might send an electric current through your body and be uncomfortable to say the least. I was told pat down only.
Last week I went into my local bank and I hadn't been in there since I got the implant next thing I noticed this horrible pins and needles sensation in both my legs and it wad just horrible, I couldn't wait to get out,as soon as i left it stopped. Now it didn't set anything off but the feeling wasn't nice. I've no idea why it happened but the next time I go in I'll know if it happens again.
Weird or what but there you are.

I don't get going through a scanner just to set it off anyway, is it not a bit pointless, you could have a weapon stuck somewhere and they wouldn't know if it was the SCS or what!
My two sense worth!

Sinead :rolleyes:

Hi Mark,

Is your friend going to be allright, sounds like he got a terrible fall poor man,

Sinead

Thank you Sinéad
 

The fall was bad, in a sports stadium around a competitive swim event. He is in his late 80s and tripped on the steel seating fastened to concrete flooring. Bouncing thrice on his pelvis and wrist, he broke both, the pelvic break causing internal bleeding, which, thank you God, was stopped at the first hospital by injecting a clot enhancer into his blood vessel. Then he was transported to another hospital better equipped to address pelvic matters. After an orthopedist said there was nothing he could do, a pelvic specialist was to see him today and I do not have the report. If surgery is not an option, he will have to somehow exist in a non-weight bearing status until the break heals over many weeks time. Cleo and I intend to look in on him tomorrow.

We were so glad they did manage to stop the abdominal bleeding. Thanks to God, and to others like you, who in their willingness offered up prayers on his behalf.

Blessings on you,
Mark56:hug:z :grouphug: