Traveling with a Splint

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In December, we headed off to Arizona for an 80th birthday party for Jim's mom and stepdad. To get there, we flew round-trip from San Luis Obispo to Phoenix. This meant I had to deal with my arm situation when I went through airport security. This wasn't that difficult, but I did want to share my experience.

On the way there, I left my brace on through security and the scanner. This meant that they had to fully swab my brace in order to ensure that there was no explosive residue on it. Kind of weird, but not a big deal.

At the Phoenix airport on the way back, they asked me if i could take my brace off, and if so, to please remove it. Since I remove my splint everyday to shower, I took my brace off, kept my splint sleeve on, and went through security. This was ultimately a mistake. After I went through the scanner they had to pat my arm down, which was very scary since moving my wrist in any way would be very bad.

When I told her to be very careful and not move my wrist, she said in a somewhat annoyed way "well, I have to pat your arm down." Huh.

It was okay in the end, but I should have just left my splint on. Getting the swab was way better, so that is what I did for my Christmas travel to and from Chicago. I left the splint on and going through security was a breeze. Lesson learned!

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