If it were me, I'd go home and get my cath pulled there.  To me, I felt 100%
better in my chair and my bed with my family and my friends.

Wow.  For me that is a tough question.  I had my
robotic three weeks ago.  I would not have wanted
to fly anywhere two days after surgery!  I felt a lot
more pain and a lot more tired than I had thought that
I would.  I stayed in the hospital an extra night and I
am in pretty good shape, not overweight, no other
health problems, and expected to go home the day
after my robotic.  But, I felt like crap and appreciated
the morphine.  So, if it had been me, I would not have
wanted to fly two days after my robotic.

However, you are getting your surgery from someone
who has done hundreds and my surgeon has only
done about 50.  I was under anesthesia longer than
expected because the set of lights for the robot
went out and they had to sterilize their second set
while I was out.  Plus the surgeon hit a big vein in
my belly and got blood on the camera and he had
to take it out and clean it and fix the vein and that
slowed him down.  So my anesthesia wasn't four
or five hours but six or so.  You will be under for
far less time at Henry Ford.  So it wouldn't be at
all right to compare my experience with what you
can reasonably expect.

If your only options are two days and fly or wait
a week to have the catheter out, that's a tough
choice to make before the surgery.  You might
have the surgery and then want to stay put for a
week or you might feel pretty good and want to
fly home.  I don't think you can predict with any
reasonable accuracy how you're going to feel.

I would have found it fairly uncomfortable after
two days to walk up the aisle of an airplane to
empty my catheter bag.  It took me four or five
days to really get comfortable with that thing.
And if you wear the smaller leg bag then you may
have to dump the thing.  If you use the large bag
then you're going to have it exposed and carrying
it is going to be interesting in public.

So, this is a difficult choice, I think.

OCL

I've twice gone through LAX with a catheter.  Once was during an
"Orange Alert" with extra security. There were no problems.  My
recollection is that there were no metal clips or anything else that
would set off the scanner, and I was prepared to drop my pants in front
of God and everybody to prove I was not a terrorist.

I did get a pre-board pass for each flight by advising the agent that I
had a catheter and needed to be close to one of the lavatories, and I
did have to empty the bag once on one of the flights.  Other than that,
it was no big deal.

DLKR,
Your question is a hard one!
My experience with RLRP (2/11/04)was there was very little pain. I felt
like I had done about a 100 sit-ups. There was no nausea. I asked my
doctor if I could go home the same evening. He convinced me to stay
just in case there were problems with bleeding.  I didn't need or get
any pain medicine.  I was a little sore on the trip home every time we
went over a pothole. I was walking outside day 2. My wife and I went
out for breakfast day 3. I was driving day 4, able to walk 5 miles day
5, and went back to work day 6. (My job has no physical demands).
Catheter out day 7.  I was totally incontiment after the catheter was
out day 7, but that got better by the day. I liked sleeping in my own
bed A LOT. Travel was more convenient with the catheter than immediatly
after when I was totally incontinent. Still, you will probably feel
safer staying close to the surgeon who did your operation. You can
decide this intelligently either way. Good luck.
Steve U