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heartman77

heartman77

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Supporting Member
Joined
May 30, 2010
Messages
196
Location
buffalo ny
What is the average time most of you waited till resuming driving? My chest is still fairly painful and i definitely would not want the airbag or even steering wheel in my chest.....Thanks....Heartfelt hugs...Michael
 
You must have been told how long to wait before driving again; that's always a good guideline to follow. I know there have been other threads on this question in the past, with varying times not to drive, with varying amounts of cheating on that. I think I only cheated once, but I was very easily distracted for months after surgery.
 
Same here, just under 4 wks. Was supposed to wait 4-6 but felt fine so cheated a little. The only issue I had early on was pulling into a driveway where you have to turn the wheel at slow speeds - that hurt a little. But that's all gone now.
 
I was told to wait 6 weeks but my chauffeur and nurse (sister) went back home after 5 weeks, so I pushed it a bit because I had to go to a meeting in another town. The problem I experienced is the sudden and quick turning of the wheel which caused pain. I resorted to shuffle steering, instead of hand over hand and this prevented problems, I hope. It is 4.5 months and occasionally I still feel a twinge of pain when I steer hard.

George
 
Michael, it is good to hear that you are thinking of getting on with things and for an American what is more a symbol of freedom of movement than driving. I started driving at 5 weeks but from the very start, I found that the shoulder strap was a problem. My friend Susan made me a small fluffy pillow that I still drive with. It is a cylinder about 5" wide and 10" long and works wonderfully well to fend off the shoulder strap. As of yesterday I am 10 months post and the shoulder strap can still be an irritation if I am driving for more than about 5 minutes. I am a little outside the norm, Michael, because I developed costochondritis during post op month 7 and although it is getting better it still causes some discomfort along the side of my sternum especially if the shoulder strap presses against that area for awhile.

Larry
 
I was told 6 weeks and 3 weeks by various members of the surgical team. 4-6 weeks is traditional. I never had any pain at all. I drove at 2 weeks. My car does not have airbag, which I was told to avoid anyway. I found the seatbelt felt a bit irritating to my wound, but the heart pillow helped pad that and I had no other discomfort or strain from driving.
 
You should ask your doctor if it wasn't mentioned in your discharge orders, since different people are told different things. One thing to be very careful of IF you decide to cheat and have an accident even IF it isn't your fault, beside messing up your body, chances are insurance will not pay for anything if you are driving before your were told by your doctors it is ok. Also if you are still taking any prescription pain meds that could cause problems.

For the seatbelt that is annoying when it rubs your incision. Beside a pillow, the sheepskin sealt belt shoulder harness covers, that are basically tubes of fluffy sheepskin (i think they make fake fur ones too) that wrap arpund the seatbealt and velcro closed, work really well and aren't as bulky as a pillow and don't move around.
 
I was told on Monday by my cardiologist to try at the 6 week point...I had not thought about the seatbelt bothering me...I guess we will have to wait and see. Robin (4 weeks post op today)
 
I waited until the 4 week mark. Even now at 9 weeks, I have a soreness if I turn my body to check traffic behind me (yes i use my mirrors! but i have a few blind spots sometimes i have to physically look at!!) so I would just watch out for that.
 
Doctor said ok at 6 weeks, but was still tough looking to the sides. Also tough to park , the mini van is no problem , the sedan you need to pull the wheel more and that's still kind of uncomfortable. I was sooo happy that I could drive and stayed local for first couple of weeks .
See how you feel when the Doctor says it's ok , take it one day at a time.
 
sunflowergirl said:
I was told on Monday by my cardiologist to try at the 6 week point...I had not thought about the seatbelt bothering me...I guess we will have to wait and see. Robin (4 weeks post op today)
Click to expand...

My hospital provided us with a red, heart shaped pillow to press against the chest when coughing and to use between the chest and the seatbelt when riding in the back seat. That solves the seatbelt issue.

George
 
First time, I was driving at 4 weeks and back to work at 6.

This time, I was not driving until 9 weeks as it hurt quite a bit to do so before that.
Would have waited longer but I had to go back to work.
 
As memory serves, it was 6 weeks or thereabouts. Sternum needs to be given time to heal. I know that my surgeon gave very specific instructions -- do's and don'ts --- to take home after leaving the hospital. Not only when I could resume driving, but taking tub baths, swimming, etc. Did your surgeon give you written instructions? If you don't have them, I would ask his office for them.
 
Yes i have my discharge papers and my surgeons instructions and i have been a good boy.....i just wondered how long you all waited to drive and how your comfort level was.....thanks for all the replies..............Heartfelt hugs.......Michael
 
For my last open heart surgery.....

January 6, 2003 ... surgery
February 10, 2003 ... first day I could drive

And ... I was in my car at 12:01 AM (yes, you read that correctly) on that day. My sister told me that if I wasn't home in a half hour, she was going to call my cell phone ... and come after me. I made it back in time.....lol



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"There's a freeway runnin' through the yard" ... Tom Petty ... 'Free Fallin''
 
I asked my surgeon on my first visit after the op, about 8 weeks. I was not allowed before then under any circumstances, take care as you may invalidate your insurance without full approval and notifying them. You also must consider the effect an accident may have on you, this also applies when you are a passenger in someone elses car.
Knightfan :- Learnin' to drive!!
 
Colin is getting ready for discharge later today (waiting for the BM he needs to get out ) so all the discharge people have been coming in. All of them have told him to wait 6-8 weeks until driving. Wonder if I could just drive him around for the rest of his life. :)Michael, I could always come and pick you up if you need to get somewhere. Why not come back to Latham? That's where you used to live, right? Buffalo is not too far for me.
 
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