Post Op travel

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footsieb

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Just a newby to this board and glad I found it.

I am supposed to have a laminectomy and fusion L4 - L5, sometime in the next few months I am both scared and depressed at the thought of being laid up for maybe months. I'm a 63 year old female who likes to do things that require sitting or walking - not laying in bed looking at the ceiling.

My immediate concern is coming home post op. The doctor and hospital are located 55 miles away - an hour's drive one way. My husband will be careful not to hit too many bumps (until we hit the last 300 ft of gravel road. There is no choice. We live in a tiny rural community in the middle of the CA redwooRAB state park. We have a 97 Nissn Pathfinder. The seats are comfortable and the passenger seat reclines. The back is hard as a rock with several metal braces that make it impossible to lie down on.

Any suggestions as to how to make the trip and subsequent trips to the doctor, more comfortable would be enormously appreciated.
 
Lots and Lots of pillows for one thing. Make sure that you have several different kinRAB. Soft, medium soft, firm. That way you can use the kind you need whereever it is needed.

My suggestion also would be to make sure that your surgeon is aware of how far a drive you have. He will make sure that you receive enough meRAB to make sure that the trip home isn't done with sufficient med coverage. He would also be able to suggest differnt positions and things to try.

I would also suggest getting out and walking about halfway through your trip home. By that time you will need to stretch your legs and walk around for a bit to get everything moving again.

Good luck!
 
I had a failed laminectomy/discectomy last year and will be having a fusion next week, and I have a 3 hour drive home. For my last surgery, I found bumps and quick turns to be very painful, so I instructed my husband to take slow, wide turns and go slow over any bumps. The freeway wasn't that bad - it was the side streets where there is a lot of stopping and turning that was painful.

There was definitely some pain, but I survived it. And definitely take lots of pillows as mentioned before as they really help!
 
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