Driving after surgery

[catwoman]

Actually, perhaps I should have said, Filling 'er up after surgery.

I didn't have much problems going back to driving.

What I did have problems with was filling up the gas tank. It seems so effortless to jockey the hose and nozzle around -- until your chest is still sore.

I had my husband fill up the tank. He forgot twice (or perhaps my car got thirsty before John got around to it), and I had to do it. Employees at the station near our house were most obliging at handling it for me.

Would be a good suggestion for OHS candidates to check pre-op with a service station they regularly patronize to let them know they'll need help. Am sure the ADA covers heart patients, and it stipulates that a self-service station cannot charge or decline to help a customer fill up a tank, unless only one employee is on hand. Don't know what other countries' laws are. People in Oregon may have it made: Last time I rented a car there, self-serve stations were illegal, dunno if that law is still on the books.

Don't push it by pulling a muscle while trying to fill the tank up yourself. I was 7 weeks post-op before I could do it without any problems.

 

[Marge]

It occurs to me that it might help to have a disability placard. It seems to me that people who have had recent OHS surgery should be able to qualify for a temporary placard. In CA all you need is a doctor's certification. Under CA law, service stations MUST assist drivers (and charge them the same amount as they would for self-serve gas) if they have disabled placard, either permanent (blue) or temporary (red). [There is an exception for the stations that are exclusively self-serve where there is only one employee, e.g., a cashier who sits behind the desk all the time.]

A lot of people who do not have a visible mobility problem but who have a disability like heart failure have such placards.

A disability placard would also allow you (or the person driving you if you are still limited to being a passenger) to park in those blue spaces. Yes, I know we are supposed to walk as much as possible, but there are times ....

 

[Lisa in Katy]

You mean there are self-serve stations with more than one employee out there? The only ones with multiple employees that I've noticed recently have restaurants attached, and I think that the employees actually are employed by the restaurant, not the gas station. Luckily, I didn't have problems with this, because I think I would have found it very difficult to find anyone to help me in the major metropolis that I live in. Even though I frequent about 2 stations, I don't know the employees because I pay at the pump.

 

[catwoman]

Marge and Lisa:

A friend in Papillion NE is paralyzed (auto accident). She has a specially adapted van and drives to many cat shows (even flies, has had top-winning American Wirehairs). She continues to push on, despite medical problems common to paraplegics.
Sheryl knows the ADA. She said that under the ADA, she must wait until for a service station employee to be free to help her. Meaning, one employee can't be in the refrig area and the 2nd employee come out to help her. Would leave the station open to theft/robbery. So, sometimes, she does have to wait for someone to come out. That would rule out self-serve where the only employee is the cashier. Sheryl doesn't wait until the tank is bone-dry.... She has told me that service station employees don't always know the ADA -- but she does.

In TX, you can get a handicapped hangtag if you can't walk more than X blocks without getting SOB. Don't remember if it's 2 blocks or 6. Six is a lot, so maybe it's 2. I got a hangtag in May because of SOB.

 

[Marge]

Here is the basic information for anybody who is a California resident & needs a handicapped placard for their car:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr07.htm

It authorizes either the disabled person -- OR the person who is chauffeuring a disabled person -- to use handicapped parking spaces. In CA you can get a temporary placard if you are disabled for six months or less.

"Heart or circulatory ailment" is one of the conditions that is specifically listed. You need a doctor's certification. I don't know how long it takes to get a placard from the DMV -- it might be a good idea to check into this before surgery if you think you might need it.

I assume that the laws are fairly similar in other states.

As for the requirement that gas stations pump gas for disabled persons: in California the ADA (federal) law is backed up by specific state legislation -- gas stations that have an attendent are required to pump gas at the self serve price for people displaying either a disabled placard or license plate. However, if there is only a cashier at the station then they are not required to comply with this law. Obviously as major companies switch to automated stations (for example, all Arco stations are now automated) it becomes more and more difficult for the disabled person to find a station where he or she can be served.