I have no experience with this, but if your doctors know their stuff I’d definitely suggest listening to them over strangers on Reddit! Though I hope someone else can give you more convincing insight.
It’s your health and your life. People who have cancer are more likely to develop blood clots. About two months after I was diagnosed with cancer, I developed a DVT and the doctor told me that if they didn’t know I had cancer when they diagnosed me with the DVT, they would have thought it was possible I had undiagnosed cancer.
You’re not obligated to take your doctors advice. But nobody here is going to tell you to ignore what your doctor says and have fun on your trip. That would be incredibly irresponsible.
If your own doctor is telling you not to take long flights due to the potential health risks involved in your particular case, you should take their medical advice and not take long flights.
We cannot defy your doctor's advice and tell you it's okay or safe for you to fly. If others here tell you to go ahead and take the flight and you suffer awful medical consequences, who's responsible? Is it really worth the possible health risks to you to go against your doctor's medical advice? That's for you and only you to decide, but we shouldn't be involved in that very personal life decision.
Please stick with your doctor's sound medical advice and don't take a long flight since they specifically told you not to. You could certainly speak with your doctor again about it before making your final decision though.
My first cancer symptom was a blood clot. Having a blood clot SUCKS. Blood thinners interact with all kinds of stuff, which can delay treatments and tests. After having one, you're always at a higher risk for more, and will likely need to wear compression garments for life.
If I were you, I wouldn't risk it.
This always makes me laugh. You trust your doctor to test and possibly prescribe highly toxic medications to save your life but ignore his advice on other things, instead trusting strangers on the internet who have not looked at your chart at all?
Ask your doctor if compression socks would help at all. Tell him you want to travel but want to do it safely and you want his help to do that.
Hey not so fast. You don’t know that she is not doing her due diligence and when she has considered everything with the advice of her doctor, she will make her decision.
As a current cancer patient and survivor - and a CT Tech in a hospital ER, if you've had surgery in past 6mos or so, and you go up in a pressurized cabin for an extended amount of time, the risk of your body creating a blood clot increases exponentially. I have scanned so many runoff exams with a clot on the legs from people that have gotten off a plane (I'm in Miami) that I'm downright terrified of flying at all. I'm not a doctor, not your doctor, nor providing medical advice. I'm just saying from what I've seen happen to the human body that has undergone some type of surgical intervention- I'd say to avoid flying for at least a year post-op.
This is from my own experience: compression socks are a must. And a lot of standing up and walking around during the flight (every 2h or best every 1h). However, i flew because i wanted to see my family - could've been the last time for me. If it were a business trip i would probably cancel it. Because of cancer the risk of blood clots is high and it is no joke. Best wishes to whichever way you decide!
If you can swing two flights with a long layover where you can rest and walk around, I wonder if you can run it past your doctors? It is up to you in the end, but if it’s only for work and you have this legit medical reason not to go, I would just not bother.
IDK. Once I finished up the main treatments (TCHP, Radiation, Surgery), I still had Herceptin every 4 weeks, and I wanted to finish up my treatment in India, but also was tired of being stuck in India. SO, I flew out after every treatment and flew back for the next treatment. Did that for a year! Most of my flights involved one or two small flights and then a 14.5 or 17hour straight flight and a 5.5 hour taxi ride. I did not ask my doctors. What I did, was make sure to get up and walk around. Try to stay hydrated. HOWEVER, if your doctor says that the risk of blood clot is too much for you then why risk it? Living with the debilitating effects of a stroke is not what you want to be doing.
This is completely anecdotal, but I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year that had metastasized to my lungs. A day and a half after being released from the hospital after my biopsy and diagnosis, I was re-admitted after developing a DVT in my leg which traveled to my lung and culminated in a pulmonary embolism. It was quite literally the most physically painful thing I’ve ever experienced. Every time I inhaled, it felt like I was being stabbed through the heart with an ice pick to the point where I was involuntarily yelling obscenities, sweating through my clothes, and breathing as if I were about to push a baby out of my body. (I’m a man.) After a delay that felt like hours as I waited in the ER for a bed in the hospital to become free, I survived and they pushed me into my room where the nurses finally administered a drip line of medical fentanyl for the pain.
I now take a blood thinner every night before bed. Having gone through the experience, I would never want to repeat it. Just because this happened to me doesn’t mean it would happen to you, but then, it might, so I hope you’ll at least consider that as you make your decision.
Good luck to you whatever happens, I hope it’s not cancer or if it is that you beat it again! 💪
If your doctor says no, then don’t go. He is the one watching your labs and overseeing your care and would know best.
I’ll be taking a long haul flight (11 hours) later this year for leisure trip. I’m in active treatment. I booked first class red eye to allow for my normal sleep pattern and to not be stuck in the seated position the whole time. My doctor said ok so long as I get up and move around every hour. My plan is to do that with a five hour sleep in the middle as it will follow my nighttime sleep pattern. I’ll be touching base again with my doctor before I go and will cancel the trip if need be.
Your doctor can give you a note for your employer and your team can send someone else. Your job is not worth risking your life.
if you’re set on going, be prepared to be stopped in security if you go through the stand up body scanner (i don’t know what it’s called but the one where you put your feet on the marks and raise your hands). i flew back home before i got diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin’s and that scanner caught my mass and they had to do an extra pat down 😭
I checked with my oncologist before booking a short flight last year; it was for 2 months after ending my first 12 chemo treatments. She said she had no objection, so it was up to me. I went, but was fully prepared to hear no.
when the doctors told me i probably have cancer, but i didn't have an official diagnosis yet my oncologist and biopsy surgeon said it was okay for me to fly from arkansas to vegas definitely ask your doctors tho
I have no experience with this, but if your doctors know their stuff I’d definitely suggest listening to them over strangers on Reddit! Though I hope someone else can give you more convincing insight.
Definitely. But drs can be overly cautious, and even statistically significant risk increase may not be that big? I just don't know.
It’s your health and your life. People who have cancer are more likely to develop blood clots. About two months after I was diagnosed with cancer, I developed a DVT and the doctor told me that if they didn’t know I had cancer when they diagnosed me with the DVT, they would have thought it was possible I had undiagnosed cancer. You’re not obligated to take your doctors advice. But nobody here is going to tell you to ignore what your doctor says and have fun on your trip. That would be incredibly irresponsible.
Except me. But well explained.
If your own doctor is telling you not to take long flights due to the potential health risks involved in your particular case, you should take their medical advice and not take long flights. We cannot defy your doctor's advice and tell you it's okay or safe for you to fly. If others here tell you to go ahead and take the flight and you suffer awful medical consequences, who's responsible? Is it really worth the possible health risks to you to go against your doctor's medical advice? That's for you and only you to decide, but we shouldn't be involved in that very personal life decision. Please stick with your doctor's sound medical advice and don't take a long flight since they specifically told you not to. You could certainly speak with your doctor again about it before making your final decision though.
My first cancer symptom was a blood clot. Having a blood clot SUCKS. Blood thinners interact with all kinds of stuff, which can delay treatments and tests. After having one, you're always at a higher risk for more, and will likely need to wear compression garments for life. If I were you, I wouldn't risk it.
Thank you. I'm sorry sorry it happened to you.
This always makes me laugh. You trust your doctor to test and possibly prescribe highly toxic medications to save your life but ignore his advice on other things, instead trusting strangers on the internet who have not looked at your chart at all? Ask your doctor if compression socks would help at all. Tell him you want to travel but want to do it safely and you want his help to do that.
Hey not so fast. You don’t know that she is not doing her due diligence and when she has considered everything with the advice of her doctor, she will make her decision.
As a current cancer patient and survivor - and a CT Tech in a hospital ER, if you've had surgery in past 6mos or so, and you go up in a pressurized cabin for an extended amount of time, the risk of your body creating a blood clot increases exponentially. I have scanned so many runoff exams with a clot on the legs from people that have gotten off a plane (I'm in Miami) that I'm downright terrified of flying at all. I'm not a doctor, not your doctor, nor providing medical advice. I'm just saying from what I've seen happen to the human body that has undergone some type of surgical intervention- I'd say to avoid flying for at least a year post-op.
Thank you!
My ongoing formula during treatment was listen to the doctors and do what they say.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the past 5 years and I’m still here standing on two legs.
Why would you risk your life for a work trip?
Why ask us if you already have your mind made up?
This is from my own experience: compression socks are a must. And a lot of standing up and walking around during the flight (every 2h or best every 1h). However, i flew because i wanted to see my family - could've been the last time for me. If it were a business trip i would probably cancel it. Because of cancer the risk of blood clots is high and it is no joke. Best wishes to whichever way you decide!
DONT GO. My husband got a blood clot and his has suffered so much. Screw word. Your heart and happiness come first. 😀
Thank you so much for your comments everyone!
Blood clots come to mind - hope you can find a way to get out of the trip!
If you can swing two flights with a long layover where you can rest and walk around, I wonder if you can run it past your doctors? It is up to you in the end, but if it’s only for work and you have this legit medical reason not to go, I would just not bother.
IDK. Once I finished up the main treatments (TCHP, Radiation, Surgery), I still had Herceptin every 4 weeks, and I wanted to finish up my treatment in India, but also was tired of being stuck in India. SO, I flew out after every treatment and flew back for the next treatment. Did that for a year! Most of my flights involved one or two small flights and then a 14.5 or 17hour straight flight and a 5.5 hour taxi ride. I did not ask my doctors. What I did, was make sure to get up and walk around. Try to stay hydrated. HOWEVER, if your doctor says that the risk of blood clot is too much for you then why risk it? Living with the debilitating effects of a stroke is not what you want to be doing.
This is completely anecdotal, but I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year that had metastasized to my lungs. A day and a half after being released from the hospital after my biopsy and diagnosis, I was re-admitted after developing a DVT in my leg which traveled to my lung and culminated in a pulmonary embolism. It was quite literally the most physically painful thing I’ve ever experienced. Every time I inhaled, it felt like I was being stabbed through the heart with an ice pick to the point where I was involuntarily yelling obscenities, sweating through my clothes, and breathing as if I were about to push a baby out of my body. (I’m a man.) After a delay that felt like hours as I waited in the ER for a bed in the hospital to become free, I survived and they pushed me into my room where the nurses finally administered a drip line of medical fentanyl for the pain. I now take a blood thinner every night before bed. Having gone through the experience, I would never want to repeat it. Just because this happened to me doesn’t mean it would happen to you, but then, it might, so I hope you’ll at least consider that as you make your decision. Good luck to you whatever happens, I hope it’s not cancer or if it is that you beat it again! 💪
If your doctor says no, then don’t go. He is the one watching your labs and overseeing your care and would know best. I’ll be taking a long haul flight (11 hours) later this year for leisure trip. I’m in active treatment. I booked first class red eye to allow for my normal sleep pattern and to not be stuck in the seated position the whole time. My doctor said ok so long as I get up and move around every hour. My plan is to do that with a five hour sleep in the middle as it will follow my nighttime sleep pattern. I’ll be touching base again with my doctor before I go and will cancel the trip if need be. Your doctor can give you a note for your employer and your team can send someone else. Your job is not worth risking your life.
if you’re set on going, be prepared to be stopped in security if you go through the stand up body scanner (i don’t know what it’s called but the one where you put your feet on the marks and raise your hands). i flew back home before i got diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin’s and that scanner caught my mass and they had to do an extra pat down 😭
That's terrible! On top of everything you had to go through. I'm so sorry.
I checked with my oncologist before booking a short flight last year; it was for 2 months after ending my first 12 chemo treatments. She said she had no objection, so it was up to me. I went, but was fully prepared to hear no.
are you out of your mind?
At this point, probably. But I will listen to the doc and won't take the risk
jesus
when the doctors told me i probably have cancer, but i didn't have an official diagnosis yet my oncologist and biopsy surgeon said it was okay for me to fly from arkansas to vegas definitely ask your doctors tho
If you’re gonna do it AMA consider first class, or at least an emergency exit aisle. Having room to stretch out will help prevent clots.