Work Question - Surgery but not what they think.

I have a bit of a dilemma and I'm hoping the answer is easier to see from the outside, or perhaps I'm building this up too much in my mind.

I've a long history with a congenital knee problem, various surgeons over the years have tried to come up with different ways to resolve the issues but all agree that there is not a way to fix all the issues I have with my leg. I can have them work on the pain, or improve functionality or try to limit the dislocations, but there is not a fix for all. In fact, they acknowledge there is a very high chance that some of the proposed surgeries will increase the pain and not work very well for my situation. I've come to terms with this, it's been a long standing painful issue but after nearly twenty years of it being a larger problem I've accepted that I'm never going to have normality.

I work for a very busy but small company and they have been very good, they've provided me underground parking which is a BIG deal in Calgary, where parking costs rival Manhattan, and never have issues with me taking time off for appointments etc. They are preparing for me to take time off for surgery but they have assumed that it is surgery on my leg I'm having.

Now, this surgery WILL improve my mobility and WILL improve the pain and hopefully will reduce the amount of dislocations I have, less weight is logically going to improve this BUT, I'm going to come back to work and still have knee issues for at least the foreseeable future.

How do I handle this? I feel I need to clarify the surgery isn't for my knee directly, but indirectly it will have a hugely positive impact. I didn't want to tell work that I was having bariatric surgery and I'm starting to panic slightly over how to handle this.

You are under no obligation to tell anybody what kind of surgery you're having. If people know you have knee problems, they might assume that it's a joint surgery or something, and you can let them make all the assumptions they want.

And this is what my gut instinct is telling me, thank you. There are only 16 people in my office so disclosing details to one will mean the whole office knows in a heartbeat, I just don't want that.

If someone asks you directly about your "knee surgery" or wishes you well on your knee healing and you feel comfortable sharing "it's not on my knee but will help my knee I hope" I'm sure if your Calgary office is like most offices in the US that info will spread ;) but I don't think people or HR gives it too much thought beyond hope she's OK... it's mostly how your function in the office will happen in your absence... and how long till you return ;) 

Best wishes on your surgery I hope you are feeling knee relief sooner than you think! 

I think you're in Canada? I'm not really sure if any of this is addressed by the laws there.

Good point Grim, I did a bit of specific research for Alberta and found this:

"To assess an employee's needs, the employer may request only information that is relevant to the employee's job duties. The employer does not have an unconditional right to full disclosure of the employee's medical situation."

So I think I'm safe to let them continue to make assumptions.

Sure. But you MAY get into trouble if you lied to them. Don't say you are having knee surgery. Just say surgery, it's very personal, and they'll probably assume something very different.

well that's true.  A "very personal" surgery could be a hysterectomy or something.  Not something I'd openly share with many people...

We aren't required to tell and employers can't ask specifics. 

This is actually pretty simple. Just tell them that this surgery will relieve pressure on your knee. Problem solved.