how'd you guys handle the surg w. your employer???

until now i have only told my hubby, mom, my 2 longest and bestest friends and one coworker...
i have been keeping it on the d/l b/c things are tough here @ work and ppl are losin their jobs and didn't want to give them a reason to let me go....they pay ALL of my insurance costs and something like my surgery will dramatically increase my insurance fees.

did you guys actually come out and tell your bosses you were having bariatric surgery??? or were you all lucky enough to have understanding bosses????

also...
a poll..
how long were yall off  of work from your surgery and the diff types of surg you had
thanks guys!!!
pam

All you actually have to do is tell them you are having surgery.  You do not have to tell them what it is for.  Its none of their business.  I would keep it to yourself if you think it might cause you to lose your job.

Also, I was off work 8 work days after my surgery.  I had it on a wednesday and went back after one and a half weeks.

Huge hugs,

Love ya girl!
T

Pam I was honest with my boss. Told her what surgery I was having and that I would be taking 4 weeks off. She was fine with it. I had a lap RNY. 

I was honest about it because I wanted to be a shining example and de-bunk so many peoples mind set around here. I work with a lot of nurses and they were all concerned about me. Plus, if you tell one person around here, everyone else finds out. Even if you think you can trust them. Thats a shame isn't it?  I know you can just tell them surgery but when it is coworkers that you talk to each day, they try and get the info out of you. Tell them you are having something personal done and you want to leave it at that. I took about a week and a half off too. It was no problem coming back to work. I do have a sit down job though so, I don't do anything strenuous.
Good Luck with that Pam. I wish you the best.

Pam,

Legally they cannot ask specifically what type of surgery you are having.  I work for a large corporation and there is a leave of absence process.  I am not allowed to know what type of surgery my associates are having - just that it is surgery.  If they choose to tell me I still must keep the information confidential.

My leave was approved for six weeks but I may return earlier.  I will only be paid at 75% of my salary, so it is my choice on how I want to proceed.   Financially I can afford to be off 6 weeks but I am in management and have a staff dynamic I want to keep in tact.

I have a good relationship with my VP, so I told her specifically what it was for and she was very supportive and gave me a hug and said take all the time you need.  She called me yesterday and said I had better not return too soon.  Not all employers are that understanding.

If there are potential lay offs I would only state I am having surgery and not go into any details until you return, if you wish.  I am not sure if you work for a small company or a large corporation so laying off during a leave of absence can vary depending on the size of the company.

Be careful about telling co-workers if you do not want your management to know.  I did finally tell my staff so there would not be a buzz or speculations about it.  People can be so nosy.

Lisa

My boss was very understanding and supportive.  But you ARE female so you could just say you are having "female surgery".  They rarely ask any questions after that.

After my RNY I took a week "off"  then worked from home for a week before returning full time to my desk job.

Floyd and I both had open surgery so it was a little different for us than most of you.  We told only our supervisor because we felt he needed to kknow and he was also a friend (and still is).  I was off 3 weeks.  Floyd went back after 2 weeks but he regretted it.  It was very difficult and he had a lot more pain that 3rd week than he did the first two.  We both had "mostly" sit down jobs and our supervisor told us to take it as easy as we needed to.  My staff knew I had a medical procedure done and were very helpful.  They did everything I couldn't do like walking up and down and picking up boxes, etc.

Good luck with your decision.

My supervisor was not supportive at all.  I had saved as much leave as I could so that I could be off for my surgery.  I was not secretative because I had to have some of my co workers help me with getting my insurance stuff straight and wanted my process to be as easy and quick as possible.  So like others have said, you tell one, everyone knows, so I was just honest.  At the job that I work at, you have a one year probation period where you can get fired for no reason, no questions asked.  I knew that I was having my surgery before my year was up because my boss was known for firing people before their year was up and I was at least going have my surgery even if I did not have my job. 

So when I went to my boss with my doctors slip to be off she said, that I did not need to have the surgery and that she was not going to support it what so ever.  Then she said you better think again because if you are off of work for more time then you have leave, you will not have a job to come back to.  So needless to say I was off of work 8 working days and a total of 12 days with weekends.  I felt great the whole time and could have went back on day 5 but opted not to to spend time with my kids.

But now here is the kicker....  Her sister just had the same surgery a week ago.  Gee I wonder if she is still unsupportive???

OMG!  I had to laugh at your last line! 

That is sooo like my last boss...who "would never have surgery to loose weight I can do it on my own" I had to laugh.  He was NOT supportive of my surgery and trashed me for having surgery.  Once he saw me in my first meeting after surgery and I'd lost 25 lbs or so guess who went and had the Lapband?  HIM!  I was soooo mad at him but happy for him to because he needed to lose some weight.  He apologized to me last week and told me his surgery was the best decision he'd ever made and was glad he had it but was bothered by the way he treated me.  I told him it was all in the past and I hope the surgery kept him around longer for his daughter.

I'm sure you boss will eventually understand why you did it but she may never apologize to you... so for her I'm saying "I'm sorry for my ignorance!" LOL

Huggs!

Frankie

I was honest with my bosses, but I have a very understanding company.  I have told my supervisor that I am looking into having mine revised.  I like Lisa have an Leave of absence policy and I took 6 weeks of, but that was my choose, I could have went back sooner. 

I had an opoen RNY.

Hugs

Peggy