cheesefiend

UNUM administers our FMLA and yes the surgery was covered under short term disability. In my case the short term disability didn’t kick until 5 (or 7 business days) so I covered those first 5 (or 7 days) using vacation leave. You can call UNUM directly and they should be able to answer your questions, no need to talk to HR.

Someone in my nutrition classes had the same issue and i think the nutritionist said it could be the milk based protein shakes? I remember her suggesting some kind of protein water and any water vs milk based shake. Good luck!

My mom helped me for about a week. I live alone so it was nice just to have someone there for moral support, to check on me, to bring me water,shakes, and popsicles from downstairs; and to figure out what meds I needed to take & when since I had all these new things to take (pain meds, nausea meds, gallstones prevention, acid reflux, stool softener...vitamins). I could have gone without help and recovered alone if I had to, but it was nice to have someone take care of me. As people have said, everyone’s recovery is different. I had pain for about two weeks, but pretty manageable by around day 5. I was not expecting the first few days to be so rough. I think I thought it was going to be like getting a cavity filled, obviously never had surgery before lol. The first few days of gas pain in your chest and neck/ shoulders are NO JOKE! Nobody told me about this beforehand ... probably a good thing. Mom can give you shoulder rubs I took off two weeks but probably could have physically managed the couple hours you are talking about in week 2 if I really had to. I was super tired, though, so work requiring me to put in a ton of prep and a lot of thinking would have been really tiring, if that makes sense. Best of luck with your approval and surgery!