Exciting news first.... I should FINALLY have my surgery scheduled sometime this week!!!! Very excited, however now I have to worry about taking off for work. They know I am working on having this procedure, but they are not very enthusiastic about me having to take off work. I manage a branch office at my company and there is a lot of responsibilities that I handle. My question is, how long should I expect to be out of work? My goal would be 1 week, then hopefully return part-time for a week or so. Could this happen? I have only had 1 surgery in my life and that was a gallbladder removal about 4 years ago. I was out 2 days for that one.

 Yorue going to get replies ranging from a week to 4 to 6 lol. Ive been out 5 wks and honestly feel like I could use one more week simpley because my energy level isnt up to par. I was VERY VERY lethargic after surgery and its just started to get better this past week. Good luck on your surgery!

It seems like most people take off two to four weeks, but some go back, at least part time, in one.  For me, RNY was rougher than my gall bladder removal.  I had hoped to go back to work in one week, and I work part time from home as a freelancer, but I couldn't do it.  It really just depends on how your surgery goes, though, and if you have any complications.

I took four weeks. Lack of energy and bathroom issues prevented me from an earlier return. I would see how you feel as it goes along, but if you are able you might want to think about taking a bit of time to focus on getting in your protein. Good luck!

I won't bore you with my work/surgery drama....but the long and short of it was that I was off for 8 days.  I was awful....I came back looking like death and feeling worse.  I had a hard time getting my food and fluids in and I was still in a fair amount of pain, which surprised me because I had no pain with my gallbladder surgery and an extensive female surgery.

Despite that I lived! 

Take as much time as you feel you can and go from there.

I took 3.5 weeks off of work, and I wish I could have taken 4-5 weeks... but I work at Starbucks as a shift manager and was on my feet constantly. It was a tough adjustment.

If you have a desk job, you could get away with 1 week off if you pushed it... but I would recommend that you try to get half-days for your first week back. I can't tell you how much of an adjustment it is, coming back to work. Half days will help with the transition.

You are consuming waaayyyy less calories, and in my case, I was working on my feet, so it was tough.

On the positive side, once you adjust and heal from surgery, you will find that you'll have more energy than ever! Its so amazing!

I've been out two weeks but have been working from day one from the hospital and at home. I did have to go in twice last week and let me tell you I was exhausted and that was after only working a few hours each day and I have a desk job.

If I could take one more week off I think I'd be golden but it's not going to happen. I'll be back this week but the minute I don't feel up to being there I am going home and they will have to deal with it.

Make sure you do a Leave of Absense and absolutely do an FMLA form!  The FMLA will protect your position at work for the time you are away.  If you have an FMLA, they cannot fire you or permanently replace you during that time.

Every doctor is different with WLS recovery time.  Mine is strict about taking 3 weeks.  He does not release you back to wor****il your 3 week check up. 

You will not be ready to go back in one week.  Remember, this is major surgery despite it being laproscopic.  You will need at least...at least 2 weeks to recover...but again it is up to your surgeon to release you back to work.


***to add in my own personal experience...I was out a total of 4 weeks.  There is always a chance of developing a complication.  And I did, I had a leak at day 10 post op which landed me back in the hospital for almost a week and an extra week to recover from that.  My employer (and doctor) just extended my FMLA and LOA since it was directly related to my original surgery.**

I guess I am  weird... took off 1.5 weeks... yes I was tired but other than that I was fine...

Sunny,

I had lots of energy my first week after surgery but got tired very quickly in the evenings.  I took 2 weeks off and was okay when I went back.  I would definetly fill out the FMLA papers before you leave.  Some people have to take 2-4 weeks off