Nervous- flying with an Aspie with OCD, Asthmatic, and diabetic- ??? about security

[disfan07]

You guys are the best! You have been so helpful.

I'll answer some inquires:

ODS will be fine with the flying and then attending class- as it is an honor's colloquium and they are touring the city and seperating into groups and so on- not much learning involved and he is very excited to attend but also really, really wants to on vacation with us. The class starts the next day just before lunch but AirTran doesn't have a flight that leaves from Atl that Sun morning until around 10 - that's cutting it way too close. So, we went with Sat night.

The paperwork for the class stated that in extreme cases they would work with the student with his grade if an emergency came up- we are hoping all will go smoothly but will have proof if there is a glitch with the airlines-

I grew up in Atl and know all too well about the summer thunderstorms and fronts that travel through the area. Usually the pattern is not so late at night except in the spring time- tornado season if you will, and so are hoping for fair weather to travel through. We will be hovering over the weather information up to the morning of the flight, I am sure!


That is the earliest flight that we can get to without an extreme rush- it takes about 4 hours to travel from Savannah, Ga to Atl, Ga and Dh will not be out of his meetings until a bit after lunchtime. So the earliest time we culd get to the Atl AP would be around 5 or so but the flights, from Atl, (Airtran) only leave at 5 and 9 that evening.

We are traveling on Airtran- we already have the tickets- snagged them at $95 each last week on a 24 hour sale.

Thanks to you guys urging me to do so, I have decided that I will go ahead and get our seats together now so I can at least sit with the YDS with the allergies.

We desperately need this time together as a family- we haven't have any fun /down time in around 4 years and I do not want to leave ODS home, he is quite capable of staying home alone, but he doesn't want to stay home.

I will take the epi pen information to heart- we do have four because we have two for school and two for home- so no problem there.

We do not have a portable neb that runs on batteries- the one that has a battery plug area is about 10 years old and they are not made any more- the new one is not portable as it is a big old rolling firetruck toy/neb and weighs a ton to carry. Some airlines ahve plugs for passanger use however, AT does not according to their web site.

I will contact the airlines to tell them of our health issues- will that mean that I can't check in on line 24 hours before the flight?

My Dad had to carry oxygen or a machine that makes it from the air anyway, on a plane last month and we could not check him in on line and he had to check in at the AP after waiting in a long line.

I will ask the allergist for prednisone for my YDS, we have an appointment with her three days before we leave for Savannah specifically to discuss this trip and any precautions that she wants us to take.

Again, thank you guys for being so helpful!

They should have plugs for an emergency if necessary. I just got my protable nebulizer (our insurance FINALLY decided to cover it after my allergist and pulm. fighting for a year!) and before that we always traveled with my regular neb and I always asked about using it on the flight if necessary and they all said they would be able to plug it in if necessary (this was Virgin America, Air Tran, Southwest, Jetblue). But I also do a neb treatment 30 minutes before the flight as a precaution (my pulmonologists' recommendation) so I have to travel with it because I use it in the terminal. I actually travel with my regular neb anyway just in case something happens with the portable neb ( I have needed to use my nebs everytime we travel because flying causes me to get upper respiratory infections apparently...I end up sick everytime we fly)

I travel with about 20 different medications, epi pens, inhalers, nebulizer, and nebulizer meds (asthma and allergies plus about 6 other medical conditions) and I have always been able to check in ahead of time. But I always talk to the agents at the desk when checking luggage and the gate agent (mainly about the peanut allergy so that they wont serve peanuts on a flight)

 

[Daydreamer64]

Good news then, I will carry the portable one that uses regular plugs and car plugs to run it.

At worst I will not be able to use it, at best I will ask and may have the comfort of knowing that in an emergency they can plug it in on the plane.

I thought about giving YDS a breathing treatment just before the flight but it makes him so hyper and nervous that I'm not sure that anyone would want to be enclosed with him on the flight home-lol!

Thinking about it though, it does make sense to do that as he will already have the meds in his system should he start to react to the allergens.

I have decided for those of you who missed it in the previous post, to go ahead and reserve seats.

 

[disfan07]

Good news then, I will carry the portable one that uses regular plugs and car plugs to run it.

At worst I will not be able to use it, at best I will ask and may have the comfort of knowing that in an emergency they can plug it in on the plane.

I thought about giving YDS a breathing treatment just before the flight but it makes him so hyper and nervous that I'm not sure that anyone would want to be enclosed with him on the flight home-lol!

Thinking about it though, it does make sense to do that as he will already have the meds in his system should he start to react to the allergens.

I have decided for those of you who missed it in the previous post, to go ahead and reserve seats.

I would definitely double check with his pulmonologist and/or allergist beforehand. I mean, in reality, the meds wont do any damage but they might suggest against it for some reason.

 

[melancholywings]

We flew last month and were on a flight that had 3 non-service dogs on it, and then saw 5 other pets at the airport.

My DD is T1D with asthma and we have had a few issues at TSA with her supplies. Never at the big busy airports, but always at the small ones. Sometimes they like to make me dump the water, and I've had one almost not let me take the ice-pack through which was necessary for the insulin as we were going to the desert. And on the rare occasion I've had to show the travel letter with the pump.

What has helped me is to make sure you pull out all liquids - if it's in the bag they will search the bags, have the travel letter handy, and (if the child is old enough) prep the child to be prepared to help explain their medical needs. We've had it where DD has had to explain to the person at the scanner what her pump was, while I was at the belt explaining the medicine.