How soon after surgery could you do light work?

[HazelMotes 7]

Hi there,

First timer here. I am being sleeved tomorrow morning, and in the meantime am trying to put out various work-related fires to try and buy myself some time off. As a self-employed person, I am curious how long it has taken folks to get back to light work duties—say, checking and responding to emails, maybe taking a few calls?

Thanks for your input!

[mariahthompson0913 11]

I was doing that the same day as my surgery. I guess it just depends on how ur feeling, everyone kinda responds differently.

[della street 213]

@HazelMotes I'm also self-employed, I'm a writer -- I had bypass on a Thursday, home on Saturday, responding to emails Sunday, light working starting that Monday -- I was tired and took breaks, but like you, I had tried to get several "heavy lifting" (no pun intended, lol) projects out of way so that the first couple of weeks after surgery would be lighter than normal. As stated earlier, everyone's different, but that is my experience. Now 4+ months post-surgery, down about 80 lbs.

[judyoz 240]

For that type of work, I could have done that 2-4 days post op. But I was lucky and did not have any pain or nausea.

[liannatx 897]

I was doing that on day 3 when I got home. I went back to work full time (teacher) after 7 days. I had tiredness and soreness, but no real pain. I had a really easy uneventful recovery.

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow!!! I hope you also have an easy recovery. I felt horrid the first 2 days, but day 3 I just started feeling really good and then each day after was exponentially better.

Edited June 1, 2015 by liannatx

[lexiemia 78]

I am post op day 4 today. I went to my dr office today to buy some Protein Shakes and then we went to costco and got some things. I am surprised how quick I have recovered. I do have to take frequent rest stops but have been able to do a lot more than I thought I would have. The first couple days were really rough because the nausea from the pain medication they gave me in recovery. We did not know I was allergic to it. So without that happening it would have been a lot easier. I was up walking in the hall that night and talking on the phone.

Wish you lots of luck and a quick recovery.

[Babbs 14,681]

I'm a Realtor, so pretty much the same day! I did a walktrhough and 2 closings the week after surgery, actually.