Husband will be recovering from surgery at Disneyland :(

[dlawallace]

So we are leaving 2 weeks from Saturday for our first whole family vacation in 5 years...and my husband tore his elbow ligament and will have to have surgery!! He is looking to schedule it maybe 4 days before we leave for California. Hopefully everything will go ok and he will not be in too much pain while we are there. Has anyone had anything like this happen to them before? Any encouraging words would be awesome!!

 

[Mividadisney]

Good luck. Just make sure your husband talks to his doctor about all the walking and heat he will be while at Disneyland, the heat plus meds can be a serious mixture. He's a tough cookie for going on this vacation so soon after surgery.

 

[Malcon10t]

Meds are going to be the biggest issue. My daughter loves all the Mountains, but even 3 weeks past surgery, the meds were keeping her off. Even Soarin' made her sick.

 

[taniahappy]

Check with your Doctor, the elbow doesn´t have to move and he might be in hell you poor husband... or maybe it´s not as serious as I think

 

[SMD]

Will he be in a cast? Check with your airline, some require documentation for how long a cast has been in place before they'll let you fly.

 

[dlawallace]

yes he will be in a cast...i will definitely check on that...thanks

 

[dlawallace]

he has had this surgery before and did pretty well with it...only the first 2-3 days were painful. He has an appointment with the DR today and hopefully he will be able to give us some advice on what we should do.

 

[wilkeliza]

Have your DH ask the doctor if putting the surgery off for after the trip is an option. I couldn't imagine being away from my medical team that soon after surgery just in case there were any complications.

If he does say it is okay to go I would find out what hospital is in network and if possible get a local doctor referral from your physician. Of course these are just in case but better to know exactly where to go if DH has issues at DL then to be panicked in the moment.

Besides that I would say he would be fine. He's an adult so knows his own body and should be able to follow doctors post op orders. I'd stay away from the coasters and more jerky rides but besides that he can still have a ton of fun.

 

[Malcon10t]

We went 3 weeks after my daughter's ankle surgery. We were not aiming for any rides, as we just wanted to relax and we knew she probably would not be up to it. The bigger issue that we didn't account for was the nausea from pain meds. We were there primarily for a dinner we were involved in and she made it through that. Be well aware the park is EXTREMELY crowded and there is a lot of jostling. Check to see what his doc says.

 

[CassieF]

[/GALLERY]i am local and have had 5 wrist surgeries (2 with extended above the elbow immobilization in a cast) and went to the parks frequently after. Some hints...take it slow. Surgery takes a lot out of you and it takes a while to get your full energy back. Also, As mentioned above, if he's still on pain meds he might want to avoid some rides due to potential nausea. And just in case maybe you should see if your doc can give him some anti emetics just in case....I threw up so much in the parks before my doctor finally gave me zofran. (If he does have to puke be aware trash cans aren't a viable option with side openings, and a trick I learned was to put a seat cover down inside the toilet before actually throwing up, if you can manage....it prevents splashing...yeah, fun times...).

As for crowds, if they are heave be aware that he will get bumped and it probably will hurt. People don't pay attention and honestly most don't care, and even with a cast it can still hurt. Have the rest of your group shield him, especially during and after night entertainment when the crowds are the worst.

Let me know if you have any other questions....I toured the parks a bit differently since I was a local but I can answer any questions you might have! Oh, since you said he will be in a cast it might be fun to know that you can use acrylic paint on them for a fun design! I attached a pic of my first three...the others I did were Darth Vader, Baymax, Jack and Sally and the Queen's heart box... You can really have a lot of fun with them!

 

[Malcon10t]

My daughter also used Zofran. Helped a lot. Also, ginger candies. She has rode Star Tours' 10x in a row when it previewed, so when Soarin' made her nauseated, we knew she would not be riding other rides that could cause issues.

 

[CassieF]

Also be sure to avoid Matterhorn and Indy...those are two very rough rides that jostle you around quite a bit and I avoided them for a few months after surgery just to make sure nothing got jerked or messed up

 

[lalasmama]

Clearly he's the best judge of what he can or can't do. And since he's been through it before, he has an idea of what he's facing.

That being said, HOLY COW, the micro-tears that I had in my elbow took 7-8 days to heal, and I just stopped needing pain medicine. No way in the world would I have been able to do Disneyland in that pain.