I am just wondering how long everyone took off from work. I am an RN and so I am on my feet the entire time basically. Heavy lifting. I work 12 hour shifts. So I'm trying to gage how long to expect to need off. Thank you!

I took 2 weeks off. You will need it! Trust me!

I took off 11 days. I work in a office. Two weeks appears to be the best for most people. As you already know recovery times differ. If you have the time take it.

Doctors will advice you to avoid lifting more than 10lbs for 48hrs and then no heavy lifting in general for 1-2 weeks. As for me, my doctor was keen to give me 29 days sick leave and i am planing to get extra 15 days it will be perfect timing for me even though i am ready to be back to work now just 8 days after the surgery

I am a vet tech, so also on my feet, squatting, bending, lifting a lot. I went back after 7 days. It was our slow time, so my days were only 8-10 hours long. I had a lifting restriction of 20 pounds for 3 weeks, so I had to lay off the heavy stuff in the beginning. I was back to carrying the usual 40-60 pounds after that.

Ten days

I took one week off from an office job. I would say as an RN at least two weeks. I feel like it is less about having a hard time lifting, although it's important to not be moving heavy patients alone and more about how tired you are. My brain was fine to work...the rest of me wanted to take a nap, which you can't do on a 12 hour nursing shift!

I took a week off from a full time retail job and I'm a part time support staff for adults with disablities. I couldn't lift anything over 10 lbs for 1 full week and then I had to "take it easy" for 2 more. I was lucky and didn't suffer from a ton of fatigue so I was ready to go back after 7 days.

Edited May 31, 201511 yr by goregalore

I would take at least 3 weeks. You are going to be tired.

I had initially wanted to use my time so my dr. Said maybe 8 weeks, but because they also found a hernia I looking at the full 8, I also work in a hospital ( psych) but we have lots of direct Pt. contact, sometimes physical, one of my RNs had the sleeves and because her schedule was 2-16s and an 8hr, she took one month, when I talk to her she says now she feels like she could have been back a little sooner, but that the biggest drawback is the time allotment for our diet, sometimes it doesn't work no matter what.......

My job allows 4 weeks, so I took 4 weeks. then I took a week of vacation! I enjoyed every minute of it. This was retirement practice, and we are still speaking to eachother! If you can get the time....take the time. You need it to not only heal, but re-learn how to eat! (step away from the pancakes!) (sorry that was another thread)

Lol @ wannabe thin soon ???? I'm watching you !

I had a really easy recovery and by day 3 I felt back to "normal" and could have returned to my job easily.... But I sit for a living, so your job sounds much more physically demanding! The wild card thrown in was my surgeon found a hernia during surgery that needed to be repaired. I didn't experience any complications before surgery or after because of it.... But assume I got it because I frequently picked up heavy loads of stuff I shouldn't be carrying. I was extra careful about hauling anything for at least 6 months. I carried a rolling suitcase around with me instead of carrying heavy files. I still ask people to help me more with carrying things than I used to.

T

My Dr. says that I shouldn't be lifting anything more than 10 pounds for about five weeks. But the problem is that the bag I take to work everyday with a MacBook, some Water, and shakes (my office doesn't have anywhere I can store any of this).

I really can't take off that long (I'll probably lose my job if I take another two weeks). Does anyone have any advice?

Remember that one of the changes after surgery is to do more physical activity, like taking stairs and parking further away, I don't know your situation or if you commute, but if you have your vehicle it may be in your best interest to leave some of these items behind, that way you don't have so much to carry and it will make you walk a little more, maybe invest in a small ice cooler so you can keep your water for your shakes(those shakes are nasty as is so why make it worse using hot or room temp water) lastly maybe you can create a space or you must have friends at work who help you