How long are you taking off work? I work in a busy cardiovascular Surgery ICU with little ancillary help. I am fortunate to have a great team who work well together.

My date is 12-16 and have FMLA, 1st day back to work 1/13 but can go back early or take an extra two weeks. I do to want to burden my co workers by taking too much time off or by coming back to early and not being able to keep up or needing too much help lifting. Working Thanksgiving but Feel a guilty taking both Christmas and New Years off.

Interested to see what other nurses that have been through the process did and what pre op nurses and those with active jobs are planning??

http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/395-gastric-sleeve-surgery-vsg-success-stories/

go here and you will find some nurses stories

Hello! I work in a busy primary care clinic where I'm running around all day. I took a week off, but have the option to take more off if I need it. The only reason I'm taking a short time is when I go back I will be phone triaging for awhile until I feel good again. Most nurses I have run across here take about 2-3 weeks on average. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the replies. My manager will let me come back with the 10 lb lifting restriction however not sure how realistic that is. I'm not the type to say no I can't do this or that at work and we are a small unit so someone not pulling their fair share of the workload is a burden.

I am having my Lapband removed and a gastric sleeve done on 11/21 and I am hoping to only take two weeks off, I'm a Nurses Aide in the Same Day Surgery area of a Hospital. Good Luck!

Hey Bobbi,

How'd your surgery go? Hope all is well! CNA s work hard, I can't imagine being able to go back as soon bad you planned. Take care of yourself:)

Hi I'm a charge nurse in a nursing home. I took 3 weeks off. Go back tomorrow night. I'm still on weight restriction until January 4th. Good luck to all!!

Surgery went good. But now that I am 10 days post op I am wondering if I made the right decision. I should have just had another Lapband put back in and not had part ofmy stomach removed.

Surgery went good. But now that I am 10 days post op I am wondering if I made the right decision. I should have just had another Lapband put back in and not had part ofmy stomach removed.

It's perfectly normal to have regrets at this stage. In time you won't be sorry. I'm 7 1/2 months post op, lost 70 lbs and I'm 10 away from goal. I can eat anything I want, just in smaller volumes. I follow up with my surgeon every 3 months for bloodworm, no worries about when to be refilled or if I'll have nausea afterwards.

Aldo, I'm an RN in a day surgery area and went back to work on post op day 10, nobody at work knows I had surgery. I've never had a problem with food, fluids or physical demands. Early post op I ate yogurt every day for lunch and threw half of it out when nobody was looking!

Hey, I am a nurse in Georgia and will be having surgery January 6, 2014 with Dr. Ibikunle at the hospital where I work at.

I will be talking to HR on Monday to see how much FMLA I have and will be taking that time to heal and adjust.

I had surgery 11-4-13. I'm 4 wks out as of yesterday. I work in a nursing home. Went back to work after 3 wks. I'm on solids now but it feels heavy in my stomach when I eat, plus my stomach kinda cramps up when I eat. No more antiemetics or pain meds!

I work in a very busy emergency room and also Have fmla. My surgery is December 17th and I plan on going back to work on January 15th. I may stay out another week depending on how I feel. I'm nervous because during the winter we're so busy that it's difficult to get a dinner break or even a bathroom break. So getting my protein in is definitely going to be a challenge. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hi everyone,

I am a nurse on a busy ICU unit. When I had my band placed in 2009 I was out for 4 weeks. I really felt like going back after 2. This time I am having revision to sleeve and only plan on taking 2 weeks off. I work with a great group of nurses and we help each other out so I think I will be fine. I worked up until 5 days before I gave birth and didn't really have any issue. Wishing for the same luck!!!!

Jaimie, are you in Florida? I remember those horrid winters in the ED. Spoiled in the Icu by comparison. I know hospitals are kind of a PIA about having drinks but maybe they would let you keep something with you to sip as you work? In the ED though I'd take as much time as I could.