flying vs driving

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mags20487
mags20487 Member Posts: 1,591
edited June 2014 in Lymphedema

I am scheduled for diep on Nov 1st in New Orleans.  I live 11 hours away by car and flying would take about 6 hours from start to finish.  I cannot decide if I should fly there and be done with it or drive and just take 2 days to come home.  My biggest concern is my "bad" LE arm.  I just flew to Mexico last week  and back and on the flight there I thought my arm was going to blow up with the pressure. Went hard as a rock and hurt like no body's business.  On the way home it was not a problem.  Is itjust as much risk in a car for 2 days?  I also hate the thought of flying with surgical tubes sticking out of me.  Any thoughts?

Maggie

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  • LympheDIVAs
    LympheDIVAs Member Posts: 35
    edited October 2012

    Driving should generally be safer than flying because you can avoid the pressure changes. Flight itself is still a big question mark - there has been one study done up in Canada showing little need for compression garments during flight, but that study had a very small sample size.

    Talk to your therapist about their thoughts, but it's generally a good idea to be safe and wear compression in both circumstances.

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  • OneBadBoob
    OneBadBoob Member Posts: 1,386
    edited October 2012

    Stepup-Speakout has a great article on the controversies of air travel and compression garments:

    http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Controversial%20Studies%20on%20Compression%20Garments%20when%20Flying.htm

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  • mags20487
    mags20487 Member Posts: 1,591
    edited October 2012

    I did wear compression on both arms for the flight.  They are both LE now so necessary.  I intend to wear them either way I decide to travel.  Flying sounds like a nightmare now especially so soon after the Diep surgery.  Thanks ladies for the input

    Maggie

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2012

    Maggie, I used to swell when my husband and I drove from PA to FL, two 10 hr days. Finally learned it was more about controlling the food I ate - I take a cooler and bring my own food that is low in salt, healthy snacks, juice and a case of bottled water. Also, my husband and I stop every hour and walk for 5-10 min. That is incredibly helpful, and my husband deserves a medal for agreeing to it. Anyway, since I have made those changes, no swelling when driving. Oh, and we have purchased foldable "screens" that block the intensity of the sun in the sides of the car windows. If it is too hot, I will get in back seat and put those up. Isn't LE so much fun!!

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  • hugz4u
    hugz4u Member Posts: 2,781
    edited October 2012

    Tina, I would like to trade you husbands. Mine just wants to go, go, go. It is so frustrating that sometimes when he suggests a trip I have to really think twice about going.  I think it's me being so independant with my LE that I need to get him more involved with my LE as I think he is in LE denial. Maybe I need to wrap him and stick him on top of the Seattle needle with all the rest of the docs in denial.  Otherwise he is a real gentlemen. There is something in the brain that changes him when wanting to get to his destination in the quickest way possible. sigh, sigh.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2012

    Hugz...I'm laughing WITH you as my DH is a "get in the car and don't stop til we get there" guy. But my doctor told him I had to stop and walk every two hours to prevent blood clots. I had to remind him to stop....and I could tell it was almost physically painful for him. Ha!! But he did it. Now we are needing to make that same 15 hour drive again in less than two weeks. My BMX was two days ago. My son is graduating from Army basic training and I want to be there so badly!!! We debated on flying and which would be easier....but just the thought of the cabin pressure PLUS all of the jostling and crowding people o while boarding terrifies me! Not sure if my drains will be out yet, so we've decided to leave a day early and split the trip into two shorter days. I hate adding two hotel nights to the bill, but watching my son graduate is motivating me to do everything my doctors say....hope you figure out what is healthiest or you! Or maybe all of our husbands should carpool together and be there waiting when we get there 5 days later...but unswollen with no blood clots. Lol!!!

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  • LympheDIVAs
    LympheDIVAs Member Posts: 35
    edited October 2012

    Hugz4u - You should teach him how to wrap you! Let it be something you do together :)

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  • Binney4
    Binney4 Member Posts: 8,609
    edited October 2012

    Mags, driving is only safer if you're not changing altitude. I live in a huge valley, so my therapist's advice to me is to wrap any time I drive more than a half hour in any direction. Tina's advice is excellent--driving is as much of a hazard as air travel if we don't tend to the stupid LE. <sigh!>

    But it really sounds like you're basically uncomfortable flying with the tubes and the recent surgery. If you're more comfortable driving, then that's definitely the way to go.

    Either way, can you wrap both arms? Makes for interesting rest stops and restaurant breaks (understatement!), but it sure does ensure that you arrive in good shape.

    Safe travels!
    Binney

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  • carol57
    carol57 Member Posts: 3,567
    edited October 2012

    Just to prove there's no way to generalize experiences (sigh...it would be so nice if our collective experiences could become some kind of study), I just completed a week of crazy air travel, lots of flights and lots of flight hours.  I wore my sleeve/gauntlet as always, got the same amount of exercise in as always, but for reasons I do not understand, my arm feels pretty good, where usually it aches for a good two days after each flying day.  I'm not complaining, of course, just saying that it is incredibly difficult to predict LE response to anything, from one person to the next, and from one time to the next.

    I guess a research study on precautions, including air travel and arm precautions, would be quite unlikely, because no ethical researcher will tell women at risk of LE to purposely and repeatedly abandon precautions. 

    Carol

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  • mags20487
    mags20487 Member Posts: 1,591
    edited October 2012

    I agree Carol57.  My flight to Mexico was excruciating and the flight home was a non event..no pain no swelling.  Everything was the same right down to the aisle I sat in on the plane.  If we could figure it out we would all be cured yesterday!!

    Maggie

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  • purple32
    purple32 Member Posts: 3,188
    edited October 2012

    Mags

    Mine is strictly a common sense answer, but I would go for the driving wih the primary reason being the CONTROL you have over getting out, taking breaks, stretching your legs in and out, doing MLD,  packing snacks etc etc ...

    Good Luck either way!

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  • carol57
    carol57 Member Posts: 3,567
    edited October 2012

    purple, common sense is so very smart!

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  • mags20487
    mags20487 Member Posts: 1,591
    edited October 2012

    we have come to that decision too...driving it is!

    mags

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