Advice on long ride from hospital after TAH/BSO

This site is wonderful!! So much informaton shared.
I need some advice. The hospital I am having surgery is 90 miles or 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive from home. Can anyone share some ideas to make the ride as comfortable as possible?? I have read where every bump on the ride home is so uncomfortable, I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has some ideas to make my long journey as painfree as possible.
Thanks alot!!

I haven't had my surgery yet but the one thing I keep hearing is to remember your tummy pillow to put between your tummy and the seatbelt.

Yes, remember to bring a pillow for your tummy to use between you and your seatbelt. And since you have a long ride home you might want to bring one for your back as well. Recline the seat a little if you can.

I had a one-hour trip home from the . No fun, I can tell you that.

I had one pillow for my tummy and I also put another pillow between me and the window area on the vehicle, so that I had even more cushioning.

DH did his best to make it a smooth ride, but there's only so much you can do. He did think to (ahem!) "borrow" one of the disposable, absorbent pads they put on the bed so that if I had any discharge it wouldn't get on the seat of his vehicle.

Finally, the was very kind and gave me an extra pain pill for the ride home. That was extremely helpful.

Hope things go well for you.

Had a pillow for my tummy and made sure I took a pain pill before leaving the hospital. Hubby did his best at driving carefully.
Good Luck to you

I had a 45 min ride on a narrow bumpy road with sections of gravel and the best advice an older lady who travelled the same road after hers was to have the pillow between the tummy and seatbelt and to also have one under my bottom. Truly this was great advice as it did cushion much of the bumps. Perhaps if you can organise pain meds 30 mins before travelling this will help also.

Goodluck with a speedy and uneventful recovery,
Karen

As a nurse, I give my patients medication just prior to their departure. If they're concerned about nausea.. I give a Zofran or something as "preventative" in conjunction with a pain med.

Pillows are good. Have your driver bring several... you can always toss the ones you don't use into the back seat or where ever they're out of the way.

Sometimes a towel or something that is a bit more "firm" to fold and place against your incision for support is good too. We use folded blankets at our hospital for when a patient "coughs and deep breathes" or gets up from sitting position or just needs extra support to feel better at the incision site.

Now... my only personal experience with surgery as the patient was my laparoscopy in Feb. It was a 45 minute drive home but one of my main fears was nausea/vomitting. I requested Zofran with anesthesia and did really well. Praise God! Also... I obviously had outpatient and no incision so I don't mean to compare "apples to oranges". Just my lil' personal experience with the Zofran which helped me and I've seen so many of my patients helped by it. (my first experience with Zofran as a nurse was when I worked oncology and folks recieved it as a pre-med with their chemo)

Best wishes to you!!!!!

rather than a pillow, I found I was happier with a very soft blanket, folded to whatever thickness I felt I needed at the time (and as the days have gone on, it's nice for my impromptu naps, as well!) I got the blanket, based on a friend's suggestion, and have been very pleased. My sister got me a very soft fuzzy pillow-thing called a snuggle....but I found that my belly was far too tender the first week or so...as soft as the snuggle was, it was too firm. Now, 11 days out, I'm grabbing the snuggle - the firmer item - when I feel a sneeze coming on.

good luck

I don't have much to add except to also bring a blanket to cover yourself in case you are chilly and maybe bring one of those neck pillows that people use for bus rides and plane rides. It will give more support to your neck if you fall asleep. Also I did use a pillow to hold against my tummy and that worked well. I would wear very lose comfortable clothes for the ride home but you probably already knew that. Good luck.

I agree... I was going to suggest that you ask for pain med and anti-nausea right before leaving the castle!