Post-surgical back braces and the TSA
 

I'm about to undergo major back surgery. I will need to wear a back brace for at least a couple of months after surgery.

While I would love to avoid flying completely during this time, unfortunately, family comes first. My son is graduating from an Army training program in March, and wants me to be at his graduation in Oklahoma (I'm in California). After that he enters yet another 10-week long training program, with no chance for me to see him. So I will have to fly.

Does anyone have any experience wearing a back brace through a TSA checkpoint? I'm hoping I will only get the WTMD (although the metal pins in my back might set that off anyway). But if they send me to the nudeoscope I'm going to have to opt out (I'm dealing with enough radiation lately, what with all my x-rays - I don't need to risk my health any further). So that means a grope-down. Will they demand that I take my back brace off? It goes UNDER my clothes, which means I'd have to at least partially disrobe in public (I'll be traveling alone, and there is no freaking way they are getting ME in a private room!). I am not willing to put myself in physical pain by removing the brace, nor am I willing to expose myself publicly in order to remove it.

If I have a letter from my doctor explaining about the back brace, will something like that generally result in them allowing me to leave it on? Anyone have any experience with something like this?

Also, some of you may recall the story I posted about my mother, who flew right after she had breast cancer surgery, and the TSO rubbed her hands directly over her surgical wound. This was right after the "enhanced pat down" was introduced. Neither of us have flown since then, and I've been reading that TSO's are now supposed to ask the traveler if they have any "sensitive areas". I'm going to have a VERY "sensitive area" - this is major surgery, and I will have two long lateral incisions on my back. I do NOT want anyone touching them!

If I'm asked that question, and I tell them not to touch my back, is it likely they will NOT touch it? What have people been experiencing out there?

I am literally shaking in my shoes over this flight, and if it wasn't for the fact that this will be my only chance to see my son for many months, I would not go. But I refuse to allow the TSA to keep me from seeing my only son before he ships out to fight for our freedom and rights (at least, the ones we have left). I would just like to make it as pain-free as possible.

Thoughts? How are things going with the grope-downs lately? Are they getting any less abusive?

Anecdotal evidence posted here and in other places across the 'net suggests that if you tell a smurf that you have a place that hurts, they'll poke it harder.

Theoretically, this should work, but since some TSA agents take the rules into their own hands, I don't know. Some of them pretend to know more about medical conditions than doctors.

Make sure your note specifically says that no one should touch the incision site and that the back brace will have to stay on the whole time. Have your doctor's office's phone number with you, just in case.

Just thought i'd add this as I also have metal in my back. I have two metal bars, one on each side of my spine and each a foot long, and have never set off the WTMD so if at all possible, i'd try to maneuver into one of those lanes and just not mention it.

Your son knows about your situation and still wants you to go?

You would be much better off and safer if your son could visit you instead of you going to him. Anyone else see the irony in this, her son is going into the army to defend our freedom and his mother is afraid of being humiliated or injured by agents of the goverment. You could try calling the local offices of your Senator or Congressman to see if they could help, although not sure what they could do.

LeeAnne:

I doubt a letter will help, but I'd get one anyway. The TSA is going to do whatever they want regardless. Maybe you should find those medical condition cards.

Please thank your son for his service to our country.

Her son is still in training. They will not allow him to go home until his training is finished. So, the only way she'll get to see her son is to travel to him. That's just how the Army is.

They'd probably just send out another form letter:

"Thank you for contacting me regarding new security screening methods taking place in our nation's airports. I appreciate hearing from you..."

Really? Well that's reassuring! So I might not even set the darn thing off! I thought it was inevitable. My mother has a metal hip, and she sets it off every single time. I will definitely try to get in the WTMD line, and maybe I'll get lucky and this will all be a moot point!

Um...this question seems a bit impolite to me, but I'll go ahead and answer it. My son doesn't even know about my surgery yet. He's in training and can only call me for ten minutes once a week. I do plan on telling him in a letter that I'll be having surgery, but I will not bother him with the details or severity. He's got enough to think about. I'd rather him be focusing on learning how to be a soldier than worrying about me.

And even if he did tell me not to come, I'm going anyway. It will be the only chance I'll get to see my only son for six months. Nothing could keep me from going there to celebrate his achievement, and spend time with him before he enters yet another 10-week program...after which he is likely to be shipped overseas.

My doctor has told me I will be recovered enough for air travel, and it is his opinion that matters. I refuse to allow an out-of-control government agency keep me from my son.

Oh right - the medical cards! Forgot about those - I'll look into that. Anyone having any good experiences with those?

And I will pass your thanks on to my son. We're very proud of him. :)

You are correct. He has three days in between this training, and the next, and he will not be allowed to travel. Plus, this is his graduation - I want to be there! I see this as no less of a milestone than his school graduations, and as his proud mother I intend to be there to support him and show him how much we love him. I'm just looking for ways to avoid as much unpleasantness as possible.

Do I EVER! Thanks for pointing this out. As far as I'm concerned, it's the TSA who are the terrorists.

^ Please thank your son for his service to our country, and thank you for supporting him.

I thought that too and my doctor told me that it could happen and even gave me a letter about it, which I never traveled with because what he wrote was entirely too technical to just hand someone. Then when I went through laguardia with my grandmother, who has a metal hip that did set off the WTMD while I had no problem, I decided to ask. The doctor said his only guess was the depth of the metal in the body. So, as I understood him, a metal hip implant is closer to the surface and less inclosed in tissue compared to where screws and other metal implants connected to the spine generally are. It could certainly be wrong, but still haven't set off any WTMD in the 7 years since I had the surgery!

And thank you for your kind words!

This is hugely reassuring to me. THANK YOU! I knew I'd get the straight story on FlyerTalk. :) This means I will be able to head out on this trip without the fear I was feeling. And if something does happen - I received some excellent advice in PMs. I feel armed and capable now - which is far better than the cowed and terrified feelings I had before.

This is somewhat true. I wish I could go more in-depth but I feel might possibly violate SSI. Sorry. :( Bound and gagged.

Deleting this post because, well, this person isn't worth the effort. ;)

Who ever wrote this to you cant read!
You live here so you dont need to "visit" you own country. Just be able to travel in it.

And sometimes i am wondering all this people who realy believe TSA is doing security, how they would feel if they would get treated like that abroad.

I am pretty sure they would stop travelling.

I am so sorry that you got that email from a 'nobody".