DS Recovery and teaching

Good Evening,

I am new to this and join at the recommendation of my surgeon. I am finishing up all the things that are required of me, I have my nutrition consultation tomorrow, my 1st EGD consult next week along with my stress test and I will have a surgery date! I am planning to have my surgery during my Christmas break because I am a teacher. I have about a 3 week break is this enough time to recover? My surgeon seems to think so I am not convinced! I teach kindergarten and I guess I could teach from my rolling  chair lol!  Any advise or suggestions? What about kindergarten teachers, or elementary teachers?

retire now, but used to teach K thru 3.  I couldn't have done it.  nausea for 3 months  and took daily afternoon naps.  Could you maybe teach 1/2 days?  

wishing you, best of luck!             

You have 3 weeks off, so you can sleep and take your vitamins, and do protein drinks.  In that 3 weeks, you need to bank your energy by taking really good care of yourself. 

Then when you go back to teaching, be careful not to run yourself down.  Sip the protein drinks all day long to keep your strength up.  Go back to bed as soon as you can, and get lots of rest.

You won't be running after kids, but you can get through a day if you are careful.

Congrats on your upcoming surgery!! I am having mine in Nov ... I run a daycare and have 5 year old twins... I am doing everything I can ahead of time and having backup help as needed on call. I know I will be doing the bare minimum  for the first few weeks or so back to work so I am trying to resign a few things with the help of others :) I have already talked to all the little ones about how they will be able to help and how things might change for a few weeks but will go back to normal...

I am a bit nervous too... kiddos can be stressful on a good day.... lol

You are lucky I am also a Teacher I only took one week off. You will be fine

I wasn't a teacher (had a desk job) but took 3 weeks off and was fine when I returned.  I rested as much as I could, walked frequently to stretch the body, and just took it easy when I got home from work.

If you are running around after kids you'll be tired and probably need a nap at lunch but I don't think it'll be a huge deal.

That said, if you have any sort of complications, all bets are off ;)

Good Luck. With that being said I don't mean to be negative at all just truthful in my experience but everybody is different. I am a spec-ed para and there is absolutely no way I could have been back to work at three weeks. My surgery was quite long at 8 hrs and was done lap. I was still in severe pain at a month out and extremely tired. I hope you are one of those that just bounces back with no prob after words. I sure wish I had been one of those lucky ones!

I couldn't have done it. Not much pain at all, but fatigue that took longer than that to resolve.

As you can see from the variations in these answers, there is a wide range of recovery times, and I don't think any of us can predict YOUR recovery time. Having said that, I hope the lack of predictability won't discourage you. this is about your health, your future, your life. Even the most dedicated teacher sometimes needs to put themselves first. Your school will find a substitute if needed. No, it's not ideal, but it will work, and you will return to teaching the better for having improved health and energy and positive outlook on life.

Larra

I went to work on day 8 PO (partial day) in an office job at my family's company.  The next day I had to go back to the ER for a partially collapsed lung.  Then I came back to work a few days later for partial days.  I can tell you that I felt like complete HELL until about 6 weeks out.  My toileting problems at the time seemed legendary.  Personally I would have had a problem trying to go back to work full-time at 3 weeks out.  My advice would be to wait until the beginning of summer break.   But on the other hand, if you can't go back after 3 weeks, then you can't go back.  The school will have to find a substitute teacher for you like they would if you had a heart attack or a kidney removed.  This is the same thing. A DS is a life-saving necessary surgery so it should be treated as such. It is really not optional.  It's not like you're having a facelift.  It is not cosmetic.

I'm a corporate trainer and could NOT have done that after 3 weeks.  I was very listless and tired for a good 5 weeks.  I took 2 months off all together and am very glad I did.