Crazy???

I am scheduled for an open roun xy on Wednesday, June 7. I know from my husband's experience that the usual hospital stay is 3 days, which would allow me to get out on Friday or Saturday. I really need to get back to work ASAP and I have a very sedentary job complete with ramps,a rolling chair and elevator. How crazy is it to think that I could make it back to work by Monday June 12 even for half days (3 hours). My husband would be with me and there is a RN and a nurse's aid in the building. My husband has been so ill himself that I have used all my sick days taking him to doctors and surgeries for kidney stones. I only would have to work for 3 to 5 days max. I am just wondering if I am completely crazy or if anyone else has had to do something like this. I assume that some people have to care for families right out of the hospital, I would have to do anything other than show up and breath. I would really appreciate your comments. I can't reschedule my surgery at this late date unless I want to wait for next June. All comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

I wouldn't say you were crazy. As a wife and mother of 5, I know how it is to have to pinch leave. I had the lap-rny. I was still light headed a week later. This is major surgery. Your Dr. isn't going to release you to return to work that soon. Plus, most importantly, as you know there's a risk of complications. I felt pretty good after 2 weeks. But everybody is different. You may want to consider waiting a little longer to accrue some more leave. Take Care, Nadine O.

You are not "crazy" but responding to all the difficulties you have been through. First, I would check out to see if you have short-term disability insurance at work. Second, I would ask whether any of your co-workers can donate leave to you. An open procedure recovery time is longer. And going back to on the 12th is essentially impossible as well as dangerous. You may still be on pain medication. You incise has not healed and stitches or staples are still in place. And you will tire easily. And despite the fact you would only have to show up and breath, once you are in the office, your employer will see you and likely not treat you as if you have had surgery. In addition, being sedentary is not desirable because of possible blood clots. You would not be able to drive and if I were your employer, I would not want the liability of you being at wor****il you were released by your surgeon. If the open RNY is the only option for you, than it will be imperative to follow the surgeon's directions regarding the amount of time you are off of work. Good luck. Brynn

You're not crazy at all. I went into surgery on 2/17, was discharged from the hospital on 2/18 and back to work on 2/21, so literally 4 days later I was back at work. However, I will say that after being back to work so soon took a toll on me. After a couple of weeks I came down with a stomach flu and it has taken over 2 weeks to get out of my system. So while I went back to work right away, I exposed myself to an illness and took twice as long to recover because I was so defenseless against the flu. If I had it to do over, I would have taken more time from work to build up a good immune defense. Good Luck, Roni

Karen hi, Everyone's recovery is different but I really don't think your doctor is going to release you to go back to work that soon. I had the open surgery 1/14/05 and was released from the hospital 1/18/05 to go home. The ride home was a little bumpy because you felt every crack in the road. I had put in to be off work for the 8 weeks recommended but after 2 weeks I felt guilty being out because I didn't feel that bad until I tried to stand from a sitting position and that pulled at times. Also I napped every afternoon because I'd get so tired in the afternoon I guess cause my body was recovering. My doctor gave me permission to start driving after 2 weeks and excercising after my first month (before that I was just walking for exercise). I did go back to work early (about 6 weeks out) but just did half days building up the hours for a week and gradually worked up to whole days though I still got tired easily the first few weeks I was back. Hopefully you can get some time donated for you to take off you don't want to try to ru**** because your body needs time to heal correctly. Hope this helped a little. Best of Luck!!! pat