How long will I be out of work/school?

Hello, I am Kiersten in New Orleans Louisiana and I am getting all of my ducks in a row, so to speak, on my way torward having WLS. I am a full time student and a part-time worker at the BEST toy store in New Orleans. My schedule is quite packed....so much so that I was thinking that I could not have the surgery until next summer so I could take the whole summer off(skip summer school for once) to heal. Latley I have been thinking I don't want to wait that long so my question is if I have off four weeks over this Christmas holiday, is that enough healing time? Do you think that I will be able to return to school in mid-January??? I am planning on having it done LAP. My primary care doctor gave me a green light, so hopefully it will be just a question of when???---any help or extra info would be helpful. My life is so active that it is hard to believe that knowing I might be able to have this surgery is really the only reason I can get out of bed in the morning. Strength and Love Kiersten

Kiersten, I had gastric bypass done laparoscopically and I was back to work (desk job) in two weeks from the day I had surgery. Of course, I had no complications. It's hard to determine how you will react to the surgery, but I would say you could/should be back to work in 2-3 weeks. If you have to have the surgery done "open" then you're talking about a longer time. I don't know which surgeon you're thinking about using, but make sure he/she is VERY experienced in doing the gastric bypass surgeries laparoscopically. There are laparoscopic surgeons out there who are doing gastric bypass, meaning they've been taking out appendixes and gall bladders and repair hernias for years by laparoscope. Ask your surgeon how many gastric bypasses he/she has done laparoscopically. Also, it's important that your surgeon have a multi-faceted approach to caring for you - comprehensive pre and post surgical care. Good luck to you. Susan

Hi Kiersten- Healing time is probably different for everybody. But I was scheduled for Lap RNY but ended up having it done open. I was able to go back part-time (half days) 2 weeks after I got out of the hospital. Was full time at the end of 3 weeks. But I do sit at a desk and supervise. If you're on your feet a lot, you might take 3-4 weeks. I would think the 4 weeks at Christmas would be plenty. Especially if you listen to what your doctor tells you. Of course, I couldn't do any lifting, etc for 6 weeks or so. But then I'm an old lady too!! Over 50. Good luck, it's wonderful on the other side-- Linda