My LVAD Is In the SKY

My soul is in the sky. ~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
August 11, 2008
Oddly enough, I had seen a performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” late last week at an outdoor amphitheatre in Topanga Canyon. Never occurred to me to borrow and reword a quote from it since my LVAD was indeed in the sky through the night as I traveled from LAX to Columbus, Ohio. It definitely has been a long time coming. Second thoughts, frayed nerves, many phone calls, emails, and documentation, I made it; and surprisingly relatively smoothly. In fact, I HAVE TO SAY, VERY SMOOTHLY. All my preparations have paid off.
My first requirement was I would only take a direct flight so to minimize the risk of getting stranded. Fortunately there still remains (for now) one direct flight each way daily from LAX to Columbus. It did mean taking a “red-eye” overnight flight from LAX. I don’t like taking the “red-eye”, but it is a direct flight, it’s better than not going at all.
It started off of course in getting clearance from my doctors to insure there was no reason why I should make this kind of trip. No objections. I wouldn’t be the first, but would be one of the few who have taken on this kind of trip before and hopefully won’t be the last.
It is a pretty significant undertaking knowing that one must be connected to power at all times; whether it be batteries or direct power. I have 6 pairs of batteries which should keep me going for 24+ hours. So I felt everything should be OK time wise as long as all batteries are near max charge capacity. I also had to make sure I remembered to pack all supporting equipment, cables, emergency 24 hour battery, backup hand pump, portable charging unit, dressing supplies to perform sterile dressing changes. Check, check, double check.
Next step was to insure I could carry all my gear with me as carry-on. Since one never really knows if their luggage makes the same flight, or if a flight gets rerouted or aborted for some reason mid travel. I couldn’t live – literally- if the baggage with my medical gear were to be lost. My medical gear fills a standard carry on roll away, two small duffle bags, and a large “fanny pack”; and I also have a laptop along with reading materials, travel folio, etc. So I had a total of 4 carry-on’s and 1 personal item (fanny pack). So technically I had three extra carry-on’s for medical gear.
I had read everything on the airline’s website, and looked as though I should be in the clear, but LVAD’s and equipment are not listed as pre-approved or recognized handicap implements. I kept making my calls to the airline, and kept basically getting the same answer:”if it is medically necessary” and you can clear TSA, there will be no problem. So I moved on.
So moving on, I started researching and reading the information on TSA’s website. It contained the same “jibber jab” about exceptions for handicap individuals and only a general national 800 number. I called and explained my plight, received the same old thing. ‘Anything medically necessary will not be a problem, just be there 1.5 hours prior to your flight. Yeah Right! I finally was able to obtain the names of was responsible or in charge for TSA at both airports. Of course I was told their numbers were unpublished, after some coercion, I did receive a number, only to realize it was the airport general hone number. In the interim, I did try TSA email support and received the same generic “jibber jab” as I had already found on their website, so that was futile. I did persevere trying to track down the TSA contacts at the individual airports and eventually was able to get messages through to the contacts about my particular situation. They both were very courteous, understanding, and cooperative; seemed almost too good to be true.
Day before the flight: Delta advises on their website to call again 1-2 days in advance of your flight to re-advise them of your medical situation. It took a little doing to get someone to understand why I was call, but once I did – no problem – record updated.
Day of the flight: We arrive at the airport 3.5 hours early. I stopped at the Delta counter checking my “checkable” luggage. I once again wanted to make sure my record was marked so I could pre-board as my carry-on’s did not need to end up in the opposite end of the plane from where I was seated. All OK.
Now the scary part, will I pass muster at TSA? First they greeted me asking how many were traveling with me as they eyed all the carry-on baggage I had, and I said just 1. I know he would be surprised so I immediately into an explanation of my medical situation and requirements and asked for a supervisor. To my amazement, the advisor had been sent an email that morning advising him of my arrival and how to address/inspect my carry-on’s. It did take a little while for them to inspect everything- but there was a lot of stuff, BUT it go very smooth. I know there are horror stories out there that may or may not have happened, or should or should not have happened; but on my trip this time, they did a superb job. THANKS TSA!
Well we had plenty of time to kill, so we went and had a martini to celebrate what was starting off as a smooth trip. Thank God.
Now, on to the gate for my last pre-board check-in with Delta, my last threshold. Met the attendant at the gate and started to explain my situation and she stopped me before I could even utter my name. Stop – wait – I know , I know, your name is……..you have a memo record a mile long. We are already aware of your situation. I explained a couple of things and off we went to pre-board. Thank you DELTA!
So either I made a real pain in the “arse” of myself, or all the preparations paid off. I used to be a very frequent business travel and I do understand how flight schedules can go astray for any number of reasons and ruin a trip. However, I am most thankful to those at Delta(especially Corine!) and TSA for making the start of this trip smoother than I could have ever imagined. I expected the worst, but got the best. Unfortunately, things do not get to always work out this well, but this time they did. THANKS to all those who helped get my vacation off to a good start.
More to come,
Namaste,