Travel after RPLND

[David1969]

Dr. Foster is doing my repeat RPLND at IU next week. I live in Connecticut so obviously will need to fly home afterwards. Has anybody had any experiecne of flying after a RPLND, how long after the op and how comfortable was it?

[boyce]

I did

Hi David,

I had my RPLND at Sloan in November, 2006.

I flew home 6 days after, no pain meds.

Significant pain during takeoff and landing (the acceleration and decelleration).

However, I moved slowly and was OK in the air.

If I had a do-over, I might take something for pain before the flight, but either way, I would guess if you wait a week, you should be OK to fly.

[Manny]

David - I saw this link on this forum, or the Internet, which describes the joruney Michael Merill had in battling TC -

http://michaelmerrill.com/

He has a section where he describes his progress week-by-week after RPLND and chemo. He flew home to Atlanta on the 2nd week after RPLND at Indiana. Attached are those links. He did fine.

http://michaelmerrill.com/JournalMain.html

http://michaelmerrill.com/RPLDNW2.html

[Margaret]

One thing to keep in mind...Boyce was required to walk a lot during the flight...they will speak to you about blood clotting.

[jdbob]

Sounds like it won't be a very long flight (I don't know where Dr. Foster is, but seem to remember eastern half of the country?). When I had my RPLND in 2004 I left the hospital after about 8 days and flew back home 4 days later. That was Frankfurt to Denver and Denver to Boise, and then 4 hour drive the next day. I didn't die

[Already Bald]

I flew home 6 days after, no pain meds.
Significant pain during takeoff and landing (the acceleration and decelleration).

Boyce- what were you thinking??
David, take the pain meds. You've done this before- you just don't need to be in a lot of pain.

[ebfun7]

Travel after RPLND

Mu husband had an RPLND by Dr. Foster on a Thursday. We flew home (to Atlanta) the following Tuesday. He was in pain. I had to push him in a wheelchair in Atlanta (it is a big airport) but he made it. He just wanted to get home. Also just to give you some idea Dr. Foster said he could go home from the hospital on Sunday or Monday. He opted for Sunday and we stayed in Indy Sunday night and Monday night and flew Tuesday. Hope this helps.

Erin

[Margaret]

Boyce- what were you thinking??
David, take the pain meds. You've done this before- you just don't need to be in a lot of pain.

Trust me when I tell you this Joe, Boyce is stubborn as a mule.

[David1969]

Thanks for all your views. The flight is not that long from Indy to Hartford (around 2 hours!!) so hopefully it should be ok. I have contacted Dr. Foster and his view is that providing the op goes to plan, I should be ok to fly 4 days after surgery. I was just inbterested in other peoples experince. I just would like to get home before Thanksgiving if possible.

[RTC]

wow you guys are tough . . so tough . .

so I repeat after Already Bald . . .
Boyce- what were you thinking?? no pain med ? why ?

I thought I read somewhere that we are not advised to fly within
3 weeks after surgery?

I recalled that 4 days after my Orchiectomy and one day after
a another little surgery . . . . I had to ride on high speed rail for
2 hours . . . wasn't painfully . . but uncomfortable . .
don't remember if I got pain med or not . . .

but I am amazed at how you could handle that . . .

My home is in Vancouver . . 9 hours away from Indiana . . which is
too long of a flight
so I certainly won't be too eager to get home after RPLND . . .

BTW may I ask that kind of pain med you get after RPLND? Are they effective enough? Thank you!

[Margaret]

You get morphine post RPLND and it is on a pump so you get to control how much you get.

[Vinny]

You should be fine. I was released from IU 3 or 4 days post RPLND and we promptly got in a car and drove 6 hours back to Missouri (after eating lunch). Stopped every couple of hours to walk. You may want to arrange for a wheel chair if there's a long walk from the gate to the terminal. But definitely take your pain meds and wear very loose fitting clothing.

[RTC]

Hi Vinny

Hi Vinny,

How are you?

I read your Blog when I got anxious about my own RPLND and do search on Google. Didn't know you are on this forum as well. It's good to see you on this forum.

6 hours drive? . . oh that sounds harsh this soon after surgery . . .

gee . . I'd very much like to return home sooner but
I think 9 hour flight . . plus transit in Chicago and another one hour drive
home might be too much . . .

BTW . . I noticed that your RPLND is done on the right side?
I thought it is recommended that all post chemo RPLND should be fully
bilateral?

anyway hope everything is well!

Ronald

[Vinny]

BTW . . I noticed that your RPLND is done on the right side?
I thought it is recommended that all post chemo RPLND should be fully
bilateral?

I don't think that's the case anymore, at least not in the US. The bilateral RPLND used to be the treatment of choice but led to retrograde ejaculation in many cases because of injury to the hypogastric plexus.

These days the post-chemo RPLND is often done using a nerve-sparing single side template (the same side as the diseased testis) although in my case there was no nerve sparing performed because of the involvement of the nerves in my tumor.