Question:
Has anyone had the experience of driving themselves home after surgery?

Since I am a widow, I will be driving about 4 hours to Atlanta for surgery. I will also drive home. I am scheduled for a lap RNY. Can anyone share a similar experience? How did you fare?    — April B. (posted on March 14, 2001)

March 14, 2001
<b>DON'T DO IT.</b> And this is coming from someone who drove herself home in a stick shift with a faulty firewall about 5 hours after giving birth. If I lived anywhere near you, I'd offer to drive you to and from the hospital. Your surgeon, if he/she is at all reputable, probably won't even perform the operation if you don't have someone to drive you home. <p>Even if you're highly tolerant of pain and don't use the pain meds so your mind is clear, it's still not a good idea. Just the act of moving your foot from gas to brake (never mind if you have a stick!) can really mess up the works, internally. Please, please, please do everything you can to find a ride there and back.
   — Suzanne B.

March 14, 2001
If your surgeon allows you to drive home alone after MAJOR surgery, then they are NOT responsible enough to do the surgery to begin with in my book. This is not like having a hangnail removed or getting stitches and ALL of the Doctors I know would require another person to drive in those cases. Find someone to drive you home. Anything can happen on the roads.
   — Linda R.

March 14, 2001
I doubt that the hospital would release you without having someone with you - I would hope not, anyway! The friend who drove me home had to report to the nurse's station so he and I both could get instructions. We had to drive 60 miles, and I had a pillow between me and my seat belt, hugging it to my belly, bracing myself for every little dip in the road. I was still pretty "out there" from my pain meds, too. I could not have handled a four-hour drive as a passenger much less as a driver. Best wishes finding someone to drive you.
   — [Deactivated Member]

March 14, 2001
April, your angel, Sandy, here. Please don't try to drive home unless you plan to stay in Atlanta another 10 days after surgery. It will be very painful and quite unsafe. Is there any way you can fly, take a car to the airport, have them take you to the gate in a wheelchair, take your pain meds on the plane and have someone pick you up at the airport? I flew from Atlanta to NJ alone 3 days after surgery doing it this way and even though it wasn't desirable it worked out fine. We all care about you and want you to be safe and healthy. Love, Sandy
   — Sandy 2.