Travel before pacemaker

My mom is in the philippines right now and her doctor had decided to insert perm pacemaker on her as her heart rate is very irratic. She's acheduled tp get her surgery on june 1st. It's only 5/16. Thst's a long way. We were thinking to just fly her over here in the states. Jowever her doctor has advised against trAvel until after sugery. Yravel is abt 16 hrs. Do we listen and just wait fir the sugery? Is it really dNgerous to travel?

3 Comments

dr advice

by islandgirl - 2015-05-17 03:05:57

I put off my pm surgery a couple of days, going to my EP appt. and him telling me I need to go to the ER that day. Broke down crying, alone, work, etc.. I had an event monitor that kept calling me and him for slow heart rate. After promising to come in if he called me, I went to the ER a couple of days later. I had a lethal arrhythmia the night after I was admitted to the hospital (pm implant the next day), and would not have survived if I were home. I will never not follow my EP's advice again. I've been going to him over 10+ years for hereditary arrhythmias.
Best of luck to you and your family.

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by Janenotarzan - 2015-05-17 04:05:50

Hi! I lived in the beautiful PI from 1985-1989 as an Air Force wife. When we traveled to/from there, it was a 19 hr flight with brief stops. The routes were Clark AB-Japan-Alaska-LAX or Clark AB-Guam-Hawaii-LAX.

Not sure how commercial flights run today, but perhaps your Mother could take the trip in legs, instead of non-stop, to reduce stress on her body. If a family member flew to meet her partway and accompany her for the remainder of the trip, that would be advantageous also.

Glad to hear you're getting a second opinon. Best wishes to all.

What's the benefit of going to the US?

by Greendirt - 2015-05-17 05:05:32

It depends on what is wrong with her heart.

Maybe waiting two weeks is less risk than flying 16 hours, maybe risking DVT, and going though the stress of changing country, time zone, going to different doctors and hospitals etc. (And all that might even end up taking two weeks anyhow?)

I assume it'd be cheaper in The Philippines too? Is there any particular problem with getting it done there?

If she does travel against medical advice, maybe check what the insurance situation is if something goes wrong in the air since she could get hit with a lot of costs if they say she was in the wrong to travel.

I got mine while I was on a vacation far from home, I even got an air ambulance ride to the hospital as they wouldn't let me off the monitors before I got the pacemaker.

But I was in my own (first world) country.

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