Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
if you had a parent with congenital heart failure on several different types of medications to manage her heart disease visit, would you want that parent to fly for a visit?
The visit would entail flying 5-6 hours on a transatlantic flight, staying in my house with two very active grandsons.
Not to say the parent is at death's door, but since Jan 2016, this parent had pneumonia which required a near 3 week hospital stay, and 2 heart episodes requiring 7-15 days in a hospital 3-4 months apart in that same year. When not in hospital, she is active seeing her private clients in her home 2-3 days a week, goes out to theatre locally, and visits her brother in town, etc.
To me, that is fairly serious and despite the medical issues, my parent is still relatively "young" as a near 74 year old, she's been wanting to visit us this June. But i'm honestly nervous for her to undertake this trip and potentially having medical issues while staying with my family. Prior to her current hospital stay, she was actually under her cardiologist orders not to fly as was looking into a short trip nearby with 2 hour flight with her brother and his wife, and was told a big no due to being on one of her medications which was fairly new.
I understand your concern, but if your mother gets the all-clear from her doctor, and wants to make the trip, then I don't see any reason to try and stop her.
My mother flew across the country this year, at 90, to meet her newest great-grandchild. She had both a mild stroke and breast cancer in the previous 12 months. One precaution she did agree to was wearing a surgical mask on the plane, and we arranged wheel chair transport at both ends of the trip. But, she wanted to go, and we really couldn't do more than worry that it would be too much. She went, she survived, and she doesn't regret it.
If the doctor approves the trip then it is OK with one caution. Please check to see what would happen if your mother needs to be hospitalized during her visit, would her health insurance cover it? How much would 7 to 15 days in the hospital cost if she had another heart incident or 21 days if she has another bout of pneumonia? Or emergency surgery? Or several months of rehab? Or?
If the doctor approves the trip then it is OK with one caution. Please check to see what would happen if your mother needs to be hospitalized during her visit, would her health insurance cover it? How much would 7 to 15 days in the hospital cost if she had another heart incident or 21 days if she has another bout of pneumonia? Or emergency surgery? Or several months of rehab? Or?
Great suggestion about health insurance. My parents always buy travel health insurance, otherwise in the US one emergency could easily bankrupt you.
Also make sure the visit is not in winter time when there are viruses flying around. My parents (in their 70s) used to visit for Thanksgiving / Christmas and every single time they'd get sick here. Now they switched to May / June and have much easier visits.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
