Here are the two things I wish I'd done differently in planning my long-distance surgery in Denver:

1. I would have waited 10 days after surgery before flying instead of five. My incisions started to cause extreme pain on the flight. I am told now that that is because there is air caught in the incisions during surgery and the air pressure of the plane causes that air to expand and press against the incisions.

2. I would have made sure that I had a hospital bed or recliner to sleep in after they discharged me from the hospital before flying home. I was in extreme pain every time I tried to get out of the regular beds in the hotel room. I assume this could have been rectified by either renting a hospital bed for my hotel room, buying a cheap recliner for my hotel room or booking a rehab facility in Denver for one week after they let me out of the hospital.

I really hope these thoughts will help someone else plan their long-distance surgery in a less painful way. As always, please feel free to PM me or respond with any questions.

My love, Annie

Annie,

I'm so sorry you suffered like this.

I stayed about 2 weeks after surgery to get physical therapy, massage and Feldenkrais and learn as much as I could before I left Denver.

Before I left Denver I went to Lazy Boy and picked out and paid for a recliner.
My husband picked it up while is was getting presurgery physical therapy. He didn't like doing but I'm so glad he did. I lived in that chair for quite a while.

These things are what I learned on the Braintalk forum from people who have gone through the surgery.

We should probably start a thread just on this topic as I know there was one on Braintalk but it is probably gone now.

I think there is one started but it fizzled out - I'll do a search for it and bump it up if I find it.