driving

[Granbonny]

Mark

Mark

My 2 cents..I think it depends on how much (amount) of meds you receive in your body during your VR surgery..From the time you enter the front door (Good feel shot) ..The amount of meds given you to put you under the amount of pain meds you receive during your 3-4 days in private room...and the amount of pain meds you need to take the first few days home (NEED them to walk all the other pain meds out of you) . I was out from the time they gave me my good-feel shot until I woke up in Private room..All tubes gone....I was very pumpheaded when I came home..Hard to talk on phone, ect. for a good week..Then still hazy for 3 more weeks..but would rather have been pumpheaded than woke up in CCU My hospital's Cardiac nurses are rated #5..... Bless their little hearts for keeping me in La=La- Land..Bonnie

 

[Marge]

<< .... would rather have been pumpheaded than woke up in CCU >>

Me, I am GLAD I woke up in the CICU!

I was so scared of ICU before my surgery (from experience from past surgery years ago) and I'm glad I had this opportunity to dispel those past fears. Also fears of the breathing tube. But my ICU experience this time was so good -- I never was in pain, the nurses so kind and competent, and always there in the cubicle with me, the "intensivist" physician so wonderful -- that I didn't want to leave ICU for a regular room when they were ready to transfer me, and literally begged to stay.

If I hadn't woken up there I would not have met these wonderful people and would still be scared of ICU. If I have to have another surgery (which is beginning to look at least like a possibility) that's something else I won't be scared of.

 

[tobagotwo]

You may find that the lack of clarity will follow you beyond the driver's seat. I didn't seem to have difficulty doing most things, including driving.

However, I did stumble across two big issues at work: I did not have the sharpness I have always relied upon for multitasking, and for some reason, my body decided independently that every day at 2:30 pm was naptime. It has taken some weeks to regain the concentration to return to the fast-moving, interruptions-of-the-interruptions type of work I do.

I still have not totally beaten the 2:30 naptime thing, though. It's undeniable and embarrassing (yawn).

An excellent point was made about not expecting linear improvement. It really is a two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of deal. Recovery isn't a controllable by mental discipline.

Best wishes,

 

[Granbonny]

Bob

Bob

I still have not totally beaten the 2:30 P.M. naptime and I'm 2 years 3 months post op Love it..just 20-30 minutes and I feel like a new woman Bonnie

 

[joy]

Mark, I don't know what the traffic situation is in Ft. Lauderdale, but I lived on a military base, and I guess I have to admit, I was driving around there at about 4 weeks post op. I think I only drove once, to pick up my cleaning lady(a gift from my mom) at the gate. I didn't drive without Kevin in the car again for a couple more weeks, but I tooled around base. The things that bothered me most were the automatic seatbelts, and the fact that I had to shift. If you have a stick, be a lot more careful, it hurts! I rememeber when my mom decided to drive me around, she was jerking my car around and THAT hurt. At two weeks post op, I would have driven better than her, but she said, "NO WAY!" The moral of the story? Be careful, and drive an automatic if you have one!
Joy

 

[mjd414]

Joy, thanks for the info.....Ft. Lauderdale has a ton of traffic and the "old" foks who drive around here are very dangerous to be near on the road. I am not going to rush my recovery because I don't want to recovery more than once. My office is 5 minutes from my house and if need be, I will have my wife (her name is also Joy) drop me off and then someone from the office will drive me home. It's not the best situation but it beats "getting in trouble". At this point in time with the operation 3 days away, I just want to see myself back home and making progress each day. My wife is a teacher and she does not go back to school until 8/09 and my son is home from law school and he does not go back to school until 8/9 as well so they will be home to help me the first few weeks I am home. Thanks again for your experience and I'll keep you posted on my progress on the road!

Mark
Ft. Lauderdale

 

[Lisa]

Mark, I'm an accountant (for now..changing jobs!) and when I went for my 2 week check-up, Dr. McGiffin said I could return to work anytime I felt like it. I went back for half days at 6 weeks. I did that for 2 weeks and then back to normal a schedule. I was fine at 6 weeks. You just have to remember to get up every now and then and move around. You'll experience discomfort/stiffness/soreness, etc. if you sit slumped over your desk for too long. It also helps if you have a proper chair....ergonomics.

 

[Carol]

I have my 6 wk. check-up tomorrow and was wondering if my doctor would release me to drive. For the first time this morning, I drove our van from the drive-way to the street to park it, and I couldn't believe how much pain I was in, though it was time for some more Tylenol. I also think I over did it yesterday using my arms. I am in rehab. but they haven't started using my arms. I was wondering about this, if the soreness when moving the van was normal. I have been having a lot of pain in my upper chest and arms. At my work I can take up to 8 weeks paid medical leave, so I believe I am going to ask the doctor tomorrow to take the next 2 weeks off to stay at home. This process of healing is taking a lot more longer than what I thought it would. Sleeping has really been a challenge for me also.

 

[Tom F.]

I must be the oddball here. At 4 weeks my doc said that I could drive, which was good cause I had started to the week before. And I had no pain ever from driving. At 6 weeks I was doing light weight workouts, again no pain.

 

[mtrcp2]

I drove for the first time at 4 weeks post. Didn't have much problem other than very slight uncomfort when making a few complete left or right turns. Kept my hands low on the steering wheel which seemed to help. Other than that I think it just depends on how well you heal up from surgery and what type of meds that you might still be on.

 

[Susan BAV]

Hi Carol -

I drove at eight weeks and was sore but not badly enough to need Tylenol. I kept being sore for a few or several weeks, after each day of driving on errands, etc. I think it was at least partially due to the way I settled into the driver's seat.

 

[Rain]

I'm an odd ball too...

I'm an odd ball too...

My surgeon said 6 weeks......... I told him, ?get real?.... I have things to do. He said, ?Wait AT LEAST two weeks... it?ll be that long before all the drugs are out of your system?. I think he really just wanted me to wait that long to let the sternum heal a bit.

I drove on day seven... but I live in a really small town.... and I didn?t drive more than a few miles. Brownies, Soccer, grocery store... those nasty blood draws, etc.

The pain I remember most? When I decided to back in my driveway...... turning the head & body to look over my shoulder.... the bump going over the curb. Ouchie, ouchie, ouchie!! Was a really dumb thing to do. But hey........ the groceries were that much closer to the door!!

I would highly recommend everyone else waiting 6 weeks.

 

[joy]

Like I said before, I started driving early too. The only thing that got me was the shifting. I didn't drive too often, maybe to the commisary and such, never left base though. When I had to go in for my check ups, I had my husband drive me...we still make a family day of it. Seattle was just way too much to handle for the first couple of months, but I am used to it. I just figure that going that far, we might as well make the day and have fun. I think I might even pull Ian out of school this year to go. He'll be in kindergarten, but he really likes the annual trip out there. He loves the ferry and running all over feeding the ducks while I am having my echo done. Then we go to the plaza cafe at the UW, they have GREAT food, and we eat, then I go to my cardio, and then we go home. We have automatics now. The one thing I WILL stress, is if you have automatic seatbelts, BRING YOUR PILLOW! That bothered me when they pressed up against my sternum. We no longer have those types of seatbelts anymore, but to anyone who is looking at having the surgery that does have a manual transmission and automatic seatbelts, just take extra precautions. Hope your appointment goes well!

Joy

 

[weekycat]

Not too odd...

Not too odd...

I must be the oddball here. At 4 weeks my doc said that I could drive, which was good cause I had started to the week before. And I had no pain ever from driving. At 6 weeks I was doing light weight workouts, again no pain.

My doc said 4 weeks also...although, I think I waited until about 5 weeks, and then it was necessary because we were borrowing my parent's motorhome, and needed to get it to our house. My husband drove the motor home of course, but I drove his little pick-up home, (about an hour's drive). The main thing for me was that it just felt strange driving again after not driving for a month.

Driving wasn't a whole lot of trouble, but I do remember the pain of washing my mini-van windows at the gas station at 7 weeks out. OUCH!

I told my physicians asst. about it, and she bawled me out...she said, "It's WAY to early for you to be doing that!! (How was I to know, no one ever told me THAT!)

 

[Tom F.]

The real thing to keep in mind always is that the guidelines as to what you can do and when are based upon information learned from a wide group of surgery survivors. We all react to this surgery a little bit differently, sometime a lot differently. So while the general guidelines are important, it is equally important to listen to your body. I know someone that is 9 years older than me and his recovery was so quick it was off the charts. I tried to match his experience and was frustrated that I could not. Yet my recovery was still pretty fast compared to others. Listen to what your body tells you, that is the key.

 

[catwoman]

I went back to work @ 7 weeks -- 20 hours/wk for 4 weeks.

I had same experience as Rain in driving post-op: It was very uncomfortable trying to turn my head in backing the car up, changing lanes, parallel parking downtown (I had a temporary handicapped tag for the car). Had to put my hands very low on the steering wheel, which did not give me as much control over it.

 

[ticktock]

Tom
Im with you, I drove shortly after surgery, maybe 3 weeks. (That is after my 3rd surgery.) BUT, when I had surgery at 16, I water ski'd at 6 weeks!!! Smart?? NO. Impressive??? Yes.

Johnny
I remember that post about your Cardio and driving, I LOVE it. "Could you drive before"?? hahahahaha.

My chest never hurt from driving.