Terrified about clots on the flight home, what actually helps?

I am going to be honest, I have worked myself into a state about this. Abdominal surgery two weeks ago, keyhole, and I fly home in six days. About nine hours in the air.

Every time I read about DVT I convince myself I can feel something in my leg. I know that is probably in my head. What I want to know from people who have actually done a long flight after surgery is what genuinely lowers the risk, and how worried I should really be. Numbers if anyone has them.

First, breathe. The feeling-something-in-your-leg-every-five-minutes thing is so common after you have read too much. I did exactly the same.

What actually helps is boringly simple: get up and walk regularly, do the ankle pumps and foot circles in your seat, keep drinking water, and wear proper compression stockings. I set a reminder on my phone for every hour so I was not relying on remembering. It gave me something to DO, which honestly helped the anxiety as much as the clots.

Deborah, let me give you the numbers, because vague fear is worse than a real figure.

For a general traveller, a flight over four hours carries a clot risk of very roughly 1 in 4,600, which is low. Long-haul travel pushes the risk to about two to three times what it would be if you had not flown, and recent surgery adds to that on top, which is why your flight is worth taking seriously rather than ignoring. The other honest fact is that major surgery keeps clot risk raised for up to 8 to 12 weeks, so this is not only about the flight itself.

What lowers it is exactly what Marisa said: move regularly, calf exercises hourly, stay hydrated, and wear graduated compression stockings, which a Cochrane review found clearly reduce symptomless clots on longer flights. The fuller picture is in blood clots on flights after surgery, and what the stockings do is in compression stockings for flying.

Two things I want to be clear about. Whether you need anything beyond stockings, such as blood-thinning medication for the flight, is a decision only your own surgeon or GP can make, so ask them before you travel given you are only two weeks out. And learn the warning signs so you are watching for the right thing: a calf that becomes painful, swollen, warm or red, and above all sudden breathlessness or chest pain, which is an emergency and means seeking urgent help, not posting here.

Thank you, that is weirdly the most reassuring thing I have read precisely because you gave me the actual number and did not tell me not to worry. I am going to ring the surgery today and ask about the medication question specifically. The reminder-every-hour idea is going straight into my phone.

The phone reminder is the trick. Nobody remembers to do ankle exercises unprompted at hour six of a flight when they are half asleep. Ring your surgery like you said and then let the plan do the worrying for you.