Recovery Time for planning surgery

I know it varies from person to person. I have had numerous orthopedic surgeries in my life, (8) and I generally bounce back quicker than what they say. I am planning on having my sleeve surgery and trying to plan a date to not miss much work. I am an elementary school principal and it feels its three time more work when I am gone. In a perfect world... If I had the surgery on a Tuesday before thanksgiving.. if all goes well... do you think I could be back at work the following Monday? I fully understand that each person is different. I have never had issues with meds, coming out of surgery etc.. I am asking if everything goes perfect!

THanks

Hi there.

I have always been considered a very quick healer and tough as nails. My orthopedic docs marvel at my pain tolerance. However, I did not anticipate the amount of pain the left side (where they make an incision to pull out the stomach) was going to give me...nor the constipation from the pain meds. I work from home so I thought that just 7 days would be fine. I was wrong. Take 14 days minimum to be good to yourself. Today is post op day 18 for me. It is the first day that I feel capable of sitting, concentrating and somewhat comfortable. That is just my opinion but don't underestimate the downtime needed to heal. Good luck and congratulations!

Julie

I too am a quick healer. I needed nothing for pain after leaving the hospital.

The hardest part of going back to work (for me) was sitting still to drive for 4 hours. I went back on day 15 and was exhausted when the day was done. I also had discomfort with anything around my waist. Allow yourself the time!

I had surgery on a Tuesday. I was back home on Thursday and walking on the treadmill. On Sunday my sister-in-law came to visit and was amazed that I was dressed and doing light housework. I went back to a computer programming job on Monday. My sister-in-law called my surgeon that Monday and ended up having her RNY about six months later. She had put it off for years, due to fear of a long recovery. I felt amazing, but was worried that the other shoe was going to drop. That did not happen and I felt better everyday.

I had a pain pump in the hospital and did not need any pain pills when I came home, I did take a stool softener and I did follow my surgeon's food plan very carefully. SIL had a job that required more physical work and took off two weeks after her surgery. I did not lift anything over 10 pounds for the first month after surgery. You sound a lot like me and I think you will be fine to go back on Monday.