How soon after surgery can you drive?

[emanresu]

My problem is that I'm having the surgery performed smack-bang in the middle of London; hotels are hugely expensive! The cost of the surgery has completely cleaned me out and I can only afford a maximum of two nights in a hotel following the operation. Thereafter I need to drive myself home; a journey of about 3 hours.

The operation will take place very early in the morning and I won't be staying overnight. In fact I'm being collected by taxi after 5pm.

My question is this: Is it possible (albeit potentially painful) to drive a vehicle 48 hours after the surgery? For that matter, would it be possible to drive 24 hours after? I don't mind putting up with a minor amount of pain as long as it saves me hundreds of £££!!!

Thanks, gentlemen, for any replies. Your opinions on this matter are greatly appreciated.

[PecDec]

I asked Karidis at my consultation and he said it was OK to drive.

I told him I'm driving to London on a Monday, op is Tuesday morning then coming home on the Wednesday.

Said that will be fine, going up myself as well which he said was OK.

Found a close, cheap 3* hotel with breakfast and free parking for less than £200.

Mostly motorway driving so shouldn't be too bad. Just do the minimal movement as possible.

Stocking up on fuel, getting all my food & clothes sorted the day before.

Going make sure i pack light so don't have too much to carry.

Good luck mate, make sure you post pics

[vegasgo]

From my experience, you may only encounter problems if you have to twist your upper body and lift your arms above your shoulders, ie not really applicable to driving unless you're reverse parking the casual way with your left arm streched over the passenger seat.

If you have a 3 hour journey, I guess a lot of this is by motorway, which should be no problem at all. Although I had no need to drive soon after my op, I could imagine problems with a tight seat belt across your chest so have some padding at hand just in case - and no hard braking!

[thetodd]

Id just go there and back on a train or coach personally, if you timed it properly you wouldnt need a hotel stay at all

[ad21]

I wouldnt advise driving the day of the surgury your be still buzzing your 'breasts' off on the fentolin from the general!  I drove the first time on the tuesday after my op which was a saturday and it did feel a bit weird but its definatley doable.

I would have to agree with thetodd here mate, try get a train or a friend to drive you

[waves]

I asked Karidis at my consultation and he said it was OK to drive.

I told him I'm driving to London on a Monday, op is Tuesday morning then coming home on the Wednesday.

Said that will be fine, going up myself as well which he said was OK.

Found a close, cheap 3* hotel with breakfast and free parking for less than £200.

Mostly motorway driving so shouldn't be too bad. Just do the minimal movement as possible.

Stocking up on fuel, getting all my food & clothes sorted the day before.

Going make sure i pack light so don't have too much to carry.

Good luck mate, make sure you post pics

Wow!  £200 a night?  I paid $85Cdn or ~£54/night for a 4 star hotel in downtown Toronto.  You guys are getting robbed over there!

Re: driving 1 or 2 days post op.  It's doable, but that's a long distance.  If you can't get a friend or take a train, then be sure to take plenty of breaks along the way.

[waves]

Meant to add...I used Priceline.com to get my cheap rates...do you have anything similar in the UK?

[PecDec]

I asked Karidis at my consultation and he said it was OK to drive.

I told him I'm driving to London on a Monday, op is Tuesday morning then coming home on the Wednesday.

Said that will be fine, going up myself as well which he said was OK.

Found a close, cheap 3* hotel with breakfast and free parking for less than £200.

Mostly motorway driving so shouldn't be too bad. Just do the minimal movement as possible.

Stocking up on fuel, getting all my food & clothes sorted the day before.

Going make sure i pack light so don't have too much to carry.

Good luck mate, make sure you post pics

Wow!  £200 a night?  I paid $85Cdn or ~£54/night for a 4 star hotel in downtown Toronto.  You guys are getting robbed over there!

Re: driving 1 or 2 days post op.  It's doable, but that's a long distance.  If you can't get a friend or take a train, then be sure to take plenty of breaks along the way.

No £200 for 2 nights/3days. includes breafast & parking which is really good for that area of London.

St Johns hospital is near Regent Park, Hyde Park, West End and Mayfair so really expensive area.

I won't be driving day of surgery but will be driving day after.

Hopefully doesn't cause too much problems.

Would it just be painful or would it be risky for cuts to open?

Don't mind putting up with the pain just as long as it doesn't do anything bad for the recovery.

[waves]

I spent a good part of the day after surgery on either the above ground train or subway, a lot of walking around touring the town and if you can believe it, trying on various jackets at some stores.  I moved very slowly and it was really difficult to open the heavy doors to malls, etc., that were there in Toronto.  The subway system is pretty smooth and I could cross my arms to limit movement, but I can tell you that on day 4 when I took the bus to the airport, it was very painful!  The bus seemed to hit every pothole in the road and didn't have the greatest shocks so that hurt.

I think if you're going to be driving you'll have to avoid bad roads and look for smooth pavement and that you'll have trouble turning.  You can do it, just might be painful.  Biggest thing is avoiding having to react to something quickly and making sure the pain meds don't affect your driving.  You might find that you'll be extra tired as well since the drain on your body to heal, plus the uncomfortableness of sleeping on your back, plus the meds. 

Can you drive for an hour and then find a cheap motel to spend another night at?  That might help a lot or if you find it just too painful or tiring to drive for longer.  You don't want to kill yourself or traumatize the chest tissues further after spending all of that money!!

[emanresu]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'm relieved to hear that driving is possible. That means I only need to book a hotel for two nights. I'm staying in a 4 star hotel which is about a £10 taxi journey from the hospital. At £100/night it certainly isn't cheap.

My main worry is that sudden movements when driving might open the wounds again. Pain I can deal with. Apparently paracetamol is good enough for this operation.

[vegasgo]

You'll have no wounds to open - just very small incisions that you'll find hard to believe the magic was worked through.

[emanresu]

You'll have no wounds to open - just very small incisions that you'll find hard to believe the magic was worked through.

As Americans like to say: F*ckin' A!