L4/5 L5/S1 Mavericks

[phylly]

Bob,
What a nightmare. I think I would have lay down in the terminal and cried until they carried me away. I can't believe you did this all by yourself. You are one really brave guy. Take care, Don't overdo.
Phylly

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

The way they treated you deserves a complaint. You needed to be in a wheelchair after such a major surgery. This is not excusable from their ignorance. I had 4 levels done and would not have been able to lift anything on the way back. It was hard enough on the way there. I am glad that you are back now and hope that you get the distraction pain under control.

Take care and I look forward to the return of the Good Humor Man

Terry Newton

[treefrog]

Wow, Bob. The trip home does not sound like it was fun, at all. I do think you should complain, that just isn't right, the way they treated you. Both Lufthansa and TSA at Atlanta. I don't know how you did it, alone.

I hope that the distraction pain is manageable, and that you stay on top of it. Take it slow, let things calm down again, before you get back to longer walks.

I hope you can post an x-ray image, that would be cool. And better yet, I hope the x-ray shows everything still looking good.

[Maria]

To buy 3 plane tickets/seats wherever and whenever possible to travel as I cannot stand sitting for over an hour to fly (and even that's long for me) but the airport scene is something else.

I have sobbed my little *disabled* bad back heart out until a wheelchair was brought to me outside of the Tampa airport when I had to fly to move back to CA. as I had 3 cat carriers, one medium size suitcase, one carry on and a bag, and my purse..

I had been told that curb service could assist me with a w/c when I made my reservations including booking the cats but the curb guys refused and said that wasn't their job that morning and by that time because I had cleaned my house that we were selling the a.m. of leaving and finished packing and catching the cats I was DEAD freaking tired and my back was spasming up a storm (plus no ESI as the PM doc had refused because he wanted to do Facet injections instead)..

Thanks to some wonderfully caring women around me a wheelchair was obtained, I was pushed where I needed to go and helped with all else by strangers who felt some compassion (and yes, sorry for me which was OK).

I made sure to let Delta know how I felt about that incident! And I usually end up speaking to Supervisors about my flight arrangements as no matter how easy I think booking 3 seats together for myself should be and I don't think I'm the only person in the world that does that.. it seems there's often a snafu.

Anyway, I do hope you're OK and sorry about the set back. Please let us know how you're feeling in a bit~ meanwhile rest and treat the spasms.

[runner]

Rest up, Bob.
In the early days, anything like that can tick your back off pretty good.
Make sure to ice, 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off and not directly on your back (please have towel or shirt or something between your back and the ice pack.

runner

[ans]

Glad you made it home relatively intact; terribly harrowing.

[Katie]

Maybe let both companies know that your experience with their terrible attitude has been sent out on an international forum where many, if not most of the members are flying for surgery.

When it hits them in the pocketbook, that will help change their attitude

Usually a pool of tears helps me get assistance when I need it most I realize that isn't manly though

I cannot imagine what you went through so soon after surgery. I think we should all let the companies know that we will be avoiding them unless they issue you an apology and some reimbursement.

[SandyW]

Bob,

I also think you should inform the airlines, I can't imagine they would approve of the treatment you received. Hopefully in the future they will do something about the treatment of surgery patients. But if they don't know about the terrible treatment, then we can't expect any changes.

However, with that behind you, I sure hope you will continue to improve and reach that day when you will be pain free. Keep us informed and God Bless.

Sandy

[trkdoc714]

All,

Thanks for your kind words.

I let Lufthansa know what happened. The ticket agent at Bremen Airport had entered all of the right info into the computer. They're looking into the lapses that occurred in Frankfurt.

As for TSA, I failed to get the name of the guy that told me to tough it out. As you can imagine, TSA was about as helpful as any other government agency (we'll look into it) and I had to force my contact information onto them. I doubt I ever get a return call.

The travel discomfort appears to be behind me now. Although I have distraction type pain and minor spasms, I feel better today than I have for a while. There is no nerve pain. My pain levels are lower than the pre-op levels.

Now the pain is under control, I can concentrate on the really important things in life....daytime TV (kind of like mental sciatica).

Bob