Out-of-Town Patients
The short answer
Out-of-Town Patients explains how to coordinate consultation, surgery, local support, follow-up, altitude, and travel home. It may suit patients traveling to Northglenn who need a realistic plan before and after surgery. Suitability is decided individually at the Northglenn practice after an examination and a review of your medical history.
Practical planning for patients traveling to Northglenn from outside the Denver metro.
In short
What else should you know?
5280 Plastic Surgery® is at 11150 Huron Street, Suite 209, Northglenn, in the north Denver metro.
Traveling patients need three things settled before booking flights: how many in-person visits are required, how long to stay after surgery, and who is traveling with you.
Sequencing
Work out the visits before you book anything
Surgery is not one appointment. There is a consultation, a pre-operative visit, the operation itself, and follow-ups spread across the months while swelling resolves and the result settles.
Some of those can be combined and some cannot, and the answer depends on the procedure. Establish the sequence at the consultation and build the travel around it, rather than the other way around.
The most common planning error is booking a return flight before anyone has said when flying is appropriate. Changeable tickets are worth the extra cost for exactly this reason.
Choosing where to stay
What to look for, without us naming names
The practice does not currently list specific hotels, airlines or car services, so choose on these criteria instead.
- Proximity to Northglenn, so post-operative visits are short trips rather than expeditions.
- Ground-floor access or a reliable elevator. Stairs are unwelcome after abdominal or chest surgery.
- Food available without going out, whether that is delivery, a kitchenette or somewhere adjacent.
- A room you can rest in properly, since you will be in it more than you expect.
- Somewhere your companion can also stay, because you should not be alone the first night.
- Parking or transport that does not require you to walk far while sore.
Altitude and travel
Two things sea-level patients underestimate
The Denver area sits at high elevation. Visitors from sea level commonly notice it in the first days, typically as fatigue, disturbed sleep and dehydration. Arriving a day or two early gives you a chance to settle before anything happens, which is worth more than it sounds.
The second is immobility. Long flights and long drives both involve sitting still, and immobility after surgery is associated with blood clots. That is why the timing of your return journey is a clinical decision rather than a scheduling preference, and it belongs to Dr. Samas rather than to your airline.
Longer operations carry a higher risk of complications generally, which is one reason the question of combining procedures is considered carefully. The anesthesia and safety page explains how operative time is thought about.
Bring with you
Traveling patient checklist
Assembled once, this saves several bad afternoons.
- Photo identification.
- A complete list of medications and supplements, plus the medications themselves.
- Prescriptions filled locally before the day of surgery, not on the way home.
- Loose, front-fastening clothing and comfortable shoes you can put on without bending.
- Any garment supplied by the practice, plus a spare set of essentials.
- Contact details for your own physician at home, in case anything needs coordinating.
- A written note of the office number and what to do after hours.
FAQ
Traveling patient questions
This page is general information. Candidacy, recovery and what to expect are discussed at your consultation.
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