Hey guys,

I am a lapband insertion/removal survivor, list 100 lbs and gained it all back and then some.

Booked for a mini bypass on the 19th..

I work in a hospital.. and I couldn't get more than 6 days off.

I go home the 20th, and back to work on the 24th. Assuming all goes well.

Just wondering, is that too ambitious, I'm mostly sitting but do some procedures standing up.

Also, if anyone asks you at work, and you don't want to say you had BariatricPal surgery, what do you say? How do you get out of it lol

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I say it took a lot of hard work because its the truth many people fail after WLS it takes hard work to go through this process be successful and stay successful

The Losers Bench

I didn't. Just told them I was having surgery. I realize maybe that was wrong on my part. I had 2 surgeries for endo cancer earlier this year. They knew why on those. I work in the field so rarely go in the office. When they did see me they honestly thought I had lost weight from the cancer. I told them I was fine cancer free just eating much healthier now

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I told them exactly what I was doing. I've been thinking about doing this for a decade.

I'm not embarrassed by it. Everyone knows I'm fat. I've tried to lose weight before and gained it all back. I want something where it isn't going to happen again.

Let them think what they're going to think. If you are comfortable with your decision you should be able to tell them the truth.

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I told my manager I was having a hernia repair when I was banded in 2012. No one asked too much and I was back after a week to a sitting job.

Now I'm revising my band to a sleeve and I work for myself, so no explanation required. My friends who know about the band think I'm having a hernia repair and fixing my flipped port. Those who don't know either don't know at all about a surgery (my husband's family and lots of friends) or think I'm in for a hernia repair. I've said a few times that 2017 is going to be my year- I'm seeing a dietician and an exercise physiologist. Both true! ????

I'm an open book, there were many conversations at work about what I was going through. Ended up being a large support group for me. Made it easy when group meals came up as they were all trying to find places that I could get something too.

I said I was having gall bladder and hernia surgery. I am 3 weeks out and headed back to work next week. I am going to say I lost weight because of surgery and just kept going because I was feeling so much better.

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I am a lapband survivor too - and I think that is a reason why I have chosen not to tell anyone about my sleeve revision. It was kind of embarrassing to face the people who knew I had the lap-band when I regained weight after the slippage and unfill. I don't want to deal with any scrutiny or questions this time.

When asking for the time off, I chose to be vague about needing medical care and needing to be out of the office. I do not feel anyone is entitled to more detailed info about my health than that. After all, if I was having a gynecologic surgery or hemorrhoids removed, I probably wouldn't want to tell the people at work details about those kinds of surgeries either, so people should know better than to pry.

If people ask about the weight loss I'll just say that I am eating smaller portions and being more active (which is true after surgery for most of us after all).

I had my sleeve revision Dec 29th and I am returning to work tomorrow (Jan 3rd). I do feel ready for it, thank goodness (the first two days after surgery were really tough but I felt significantly better after that and each day has been better since). My job isn't extremely physical though, and I was fortunate enough to not have any complications that made recovery slower.