When to go back to work?

[DragonFlyFree 0]

My VSG is Feb 25th. I am scheduled to return to work on March 1st. Is this too soon? I have a sit down job with no lifting.

[libaba 4]

I had my surgery last Wednesday 1/26 and I'm back at work today! Just depends on your own personal experience I think, but I have had no complications and felt well enough. Doctor told me yesterday when he removed my drain that I was fine to return........so here I am!

[cludgie 81]

I had my surgery on awednesday and went back to work on the monday with no problems at all, I think the sooner we get back into the swing of things the better we feel.

Good luck.

[JJM 0]

I took two weeks and I am glad I did! I was still trying to figure out what to drink and when and how much and it was good to get that down prior to working! I also work 45 minutes away and put in 10 hour days so I was glad to have those two weeks!!

[NJMOMof2 17]

I took 4 weeks off an it was great. I wanted to be more comfortable eating. My doctor said this surgery is like hitting "control, alt, delete". We have to learn a new way of eating. If you can take 4, do it. I am a teacher so I bend and stand a lot so I wanted to be 100% before I went back.

[Ms. E 5]

I had originally requested 1 week and 2 days, I had to call in and take the whole 2 weeks. I was so not ready to go back. I didn't have any complications just felt week and needed sleep to recuparate. It really comes down to you, Good Luck.

[Vford70 0]

I didn't have any drains. I went back to work 1 week after having my surgery done. Everyone at work that knew I had it was really supportive.

[Ali W 2]

I took 1 week off from a part time office job...went in and worked 3 hours and was totally exhausted. But went back 3 days later and worked 4 hours and it was better. I did take 3 weeks off from my other part time job...teachers aide for adult education...and just went back on Tuesday. I was tired, but it was good to be back in the swing of things!

[klus263 9]

I work from home so I did not have to deal with a commute but I do work 4 -10 hours taking calls. I had surgery on a Wednesday and returned to work the following Wednesday. I did get up often during the day and walked for a few minutes around the apartment to loosen up and to prevent blood clots. A few days more would had been nice but I could not afford any more time office.

[Tandybo 1]

I went back to work 6 days after my surgery. No problems.

[morethan 4]

My plan is to take 4 weeks.

[Kris 78]

I have a desk job and took 10 days off but had a rough time coming back and ended up working only half days my first week back. in retrospect I would've done better taking two full weeks off, but that was just me. The more active your job the more time off you should take, IMHO.

[educationrulz 18]

Wow! You guys are soldiers! I felt like crap for close to 4 weeks. Luckily I"m a teacher and had 6 weeks over summer break to get it together. I guess I would have made do with less time though if it had been necessary.

The weakness, fatigue, and lightheadedness were the dealbreakers for me. Being in the Hotlanta heat didn't help much with the lightheadedness. STAY OUT OF THE SUN in the first few weeks post op! It'll get ya for sure.

[myrori 55]

I took 5 weeks. Could have I have gone back sooner physically? Yes. Mentally, I am glad I took the time. For me just eating or drinking at that point was REAL WORK and my job is stressfull and I know I could not have concentrated on it, so maybe physically it was a good thing to take the time too.

At 5 weeks I still was learning what food would go down. On my second day back I was eating yogurt and some carl budding and I had to talk on the radio and did not chew enough. The meat formed a gate and I WAS IN PAIN! I had to wait for someone to take my place and I had to get rid of it. That happened a couple more times in the fist couple of weeks back.

Now I chew and chew and chew and chew and have made an agreement with my co worker that if I do not answer the radio during lunch she keeps and eye on it because even now, while things are not getting stuck so much I find it hard to talk right after a swallow. It has been all about getting to know the new stomach and perhaps a bit of esophogeal spasm issue with the hard to talk thing. So it is a very personal thing about how soon. Personally I am glad I took the time to LEARN the new me, I think the old me never learned to listen to physical signals of when enough was enough or what was too fast when eating.

[LowCho 1]

It's really individualized. My doc told me to take six weeks but I thought I would be fine in one to two. Turns out, I was off work for nine weeks and needed every minute of it. When I went back to work, I almost went back home because I was so exhausted. I'm in week thirteen and am just now starting to feel like I can make it through a 10-12 hour work day without passing out.