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Is a 12-hour road trip really safer than an airplane for Nicholson?

I had major foot surgery in 2017. Traveled a month later: 4-hour flight, then 4-hour drive. I developed a clot in that calf. Shouldn't have traveled. But I think the car was worse, since I could hobble around in the plane.
 
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Any lower extremity injury alters blood flow and increases the risk of DVTs. Airline travel increases the risk of DVTs, regardless of injury history, Unless you have a contraindication to using Aspirin(ASA), taking an aspirin tablet before air travel is not a bad idea. I wear TED stockings on most flights also.

Auto travel, depending on the vehicle, allows the knee to be extended, improving venous return but DVTs occur after long car trips as well

I would ask Dr. Gragg if a 2 hour flight is more dangerous than a 12 hour auto trip
 
If so, why? Seems kind of strange.
When you fly, plane is not pressurized to ground level - pressurized between 6K and 10k altitude. That reduced pressure can result in stitches popping, especially internal stitches. If recent surgery, residual chemicals in the blood can expand and cause pain or worse. There are other pressure related potential problems that doc around here can cover.
 
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Are you really asking if a 7 foot center with a broken foot is better off driving than flying?

I want to check the credentials on that degree son.
Yeah I dont understand either. It’s his foot that’s hurt, not his arms. Shouldn’t impact his flapping or gliding
 
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When you fly, plane is not pressurized to ground level - pressurized between 6K and 10k altitude. That reduced pressure can result in stitches popping, especially internal stitches. If recent surgery, residual chemicals in the blood can expand and cause pain or worse. There are other pressure related potential problems that doc around here can cover.
Well, I know they don't want you flying right after SCUBA diving for that reason. I didn't realize 6-10k feet was enough to make stitches pop. There are towns where people live at those elevations. I guess you'd better not go back home after surgery if you live there.
 
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Well, I know they don't want you flying right after SCUBA diving for that reason. I didn't realize 6-10k feet was enough to make stitches pop. There are towns where people live at those elevations. I guess you'd better not go back home after surgery if you live there.
Unless the stitches were placed at altitude. IE - get operated on in Denver, stay within a few thousand feet and the pressure difference is probably inconsequential.

When I broke my body and got a chest tube in Miami, once out of ICU, doc said go home and see a variety of doctors and no flying for 30 days. I was more concerned about instruction B until I realized about the same moment he told me that my internal stitches might not make the flight home intact leaving me in a body bag.

No planes, only trains, buses and autos got me home that time….
 
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Well, I know they don't want you flying right after SCUBA diving for that reason. I didn't realize 6-10k feet was enough to make stitches pop. There are towns where people live at those elevations. I guess you'd better not go back home after surgery if you live there.
If you live at those elevations, aren’t your internal body chemistries already set to elevation? It takes a couple weeks to acclimate in either direction…
 
If you live at those elevations, aren’t your internal body chemistries already set to elevation? It takes a couple weeks to acclimate in either direction…
If the problem is with stitches popping, I'm not sure that's related to internal body chemistry. (Blood clots, maybe. I'll let the medical doctors tackle that one.)
 
If the problem is with stitches popping, I'm not sure that's related to internal body chemistry. (Blood clots, maybe. I'll let the medical doctors tackle that one.)
I’m honestly asking. Beyond a cursory knowledge of what it feels like to acclimatize back and forth between the flat Midwest and over a mile above sea level for a fee months at a time… I don’t know a lot about it. Haven’t taken biology since 10th grade.
 
I’m honestly asking. Beyond a cursory knowledge of what it feels like to acclimatize back and forth between the flat Midwest and over a mile above sea level for a fee months at a time… I don’t know a lot about it. Haven’t taken biology since 10th grade.
If you go SCUBA diving with an empty water bottle (filled with air, with the cap on), and you dive down to, say, 50 ft, the bottle will be crushed. Then, when you return to the surface, the air in the bottle expands and it returns to its shape. The bottle doesn't acclimate to the pressure. I assume that "stitches popping" are a similar sort of thing.
 
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If so, why? Seems kind of strange.
John Madden would have been very proud of Nicholson.
gettyimages-2227876.jpg
 
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If you go SCUBA diving with an empty water bottle (filled with air, with the cap on), and you dive down to, say, 50 ft, the bottle will be crushed. Then, when you return to the surface, the air in the bottle expands and it returns to its shape. The bottle doesn't acclimate to the pressure. I assume that "stitches popping" are a similar sort of thing.
Acclimatizing has to do with like chemicals your body produces in different ways to utilize oxygen more efficiently at altitude. Does the pressure within your body change too? I honestly don’t know.

I’m in palm beach and kinda lit, I probably look like a goddamn moron to the Cats who took hard sciences. Give me a break, I was a physics guy.
 
Acclimatizing has to do with like chemicals your body produces in different ways to utilize oxygen more efficiently at altitude. Does the pressure within your body change too? I honestly don’t know.

I’m in palm beach and kinda lit, I probably look like a goddamn moron to the Cats who took hard sciences. Give me a break, I was a physics guy.
I think what you say is true regarding oxygen use, but I don't see how that would pertain to stitches popping.

Yes, when you are at higher altitude, there is less pressure on your body, less atmosphere pressing down on you. That lower pressure is also why water boils at a lower temperature at altitude.

When you SCUBA dive, when you dive under the water, you are under more pressure, and it takes more air to fill your lungs. (Think back to the water bottle I talked about earlier.) So, you're breathing in more air when underwater. Since you're breathing in more air than usual, nitrogen builds up in your bloodstream. If you then ascend too quickly, the nitrogen will come out of solution and form air bubbles in your bloodstream, and that's what they call "the bends." That's why SCUBA divers have to ascend at a slow rate and do a "safety stop" at about 15 ft depth, to offload the nitrogen that was built up at greater depths. And it's for the same reason that they don't want you flying shortly after SCUBA diving.

At a certain depth, at a certain pressure, even too much oxygen becomes toxic!

But I don't think any of this is related to stitches popping.
 
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Any lower extremity injury alters blood flow and increases the risk of DVTs. Airline travel increases the risk of DVTs, regardless of injury history, Unless you have a contraindication to using Aspirin(ASA), taking an aspirin tablet before air travel is not a bad idea. I wear TED stockings on most flights also.

Auto travel, depending on the vehicle, allows the knee to be extended, improving venous return but DVTs occur after long car trips as well

I would ask Dr. Gragg if a 2 hour flight is more dangerous than a 12 hour auto trip
Something else he won't have a clue about
 
Well, I know they don't want you flying right after SCUBA diving for that reason. I didn't realize 6-10k feet was enough to make stitches pop. There are towns where people live at those elevations. I guess you'd better not go back home after surgery if you live there.
The issue is that you are changing the elevation very quickly similar to coming up from depth when you scuba dive. Do it too fast and it causes problems. The issue is likely that in an airplane you get to that different altitude very quickly with no time for your body to adjust. The pressure drop is not as great but your body is injured and the change is in minutes. Driving takes longer, you likely never get to that altitude (pressure drop) but even if you do your body has time to adjust
 
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I think what you say is true regarding oxygen use, but I don't see how that would pertain to stitches popping.

Yes, when you are at higher altitude, there is less pressure on your body, less atmosphere pressing down on you. That lower pressure is also why water boils at a lower temperature at altitude.

When you SCUBA dive, when you dive under the water, you are under more pressure, and it takes more air to fill your lungs. (Think back to the water bottle I talked about earlier.) So, you're breathing in more air when underwater. Since you're breathing in more air than usual, nitrogen builds up in your bloodstream. If you then ascend too quickly, the nitrogen will come out of solution and form air bubbles in your bloodstream, and that's what they call "the bends." That's why SCUBA divers have to ascend at a slow rate and do a "safety stop" at about 15 ft depth, to offload the nitrogen that was built up at greater depths. And it's for the same reason that they don't want you flying shortly after SCUBA diving.

At a certain depth, at a certain pressure, even too much oxygen becomes toxic!

But I don't think any of this is related to stitches popping.
Likely because your body is used to a certain external pressure and it pushes back Reduce that pressure too fast and it is still pushing out but the air is not pushing in as much
 
If you go SCUBA diving with an empty water bottle (filled with air, with the cap on), and you dive down to, say, 50 ft, the bottle will be crushed. Then, when you return to the surface, the air in the bottle expands and it returns to its shape. The bottle doesn't acclimate to the pressure. I assume that "stitches popping" are a similar sort of thing.
Ever try the egg yolk trick?
 
I think what you say is true regarding oxygen use, but I don't see how that would pertain to stitches popping.

Yes, when you are at higher altitude, there is less pressure on your body, less atmosphere pressing down on you. That lower pressure is also why water boils at a lower temperature at altitude.

When you SCUBA dive, when you dive under the water, you are under more pressure, and it takes more air to fill your lungs. (Think back to the water bottle I talked about earlier.) So, you're breathing in more air when underwater. Since you're breathing in more air than usual, nitrogen builds up in your bloodstream. If you then ascend too quickly, the nitrogen will come out of solution and form air bubbles in your bloodstream, and that's what they call "the bends." That's why SCUBA divers have to ascend at a slow rate and do a "safety stop" at about 15 ft depth, to offload the nitrogen that was built up at greater depths. And it's for the same reason that they don't want you flying shortly after SCUBA diving.

At a certain depth, at a certain pressure, even too much oxygen becomes toxic!

But I don't think any of this is related to stitches popping.
You are correct. But internal stitches popping at altitude is also a concern. The stitches are sewn to hold in pressure. Inherently using atmospheric pressure to assist. When that pressure drops, greater pressure applied to the stitches.

Complicating is that typically those stitches hold in something that can bleed - and will more profusely at lower atmospheric pressure. Coupled with the inability to get proper medical care until the plane gets on the ground and the medical team on the plane and the results are exasperated.
 
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