Working from home after gastric bypass

[Joy in the journey 1]

I work from home full-time and will be having surgery on a Tuesday morning. How long should I plan to be off work?

[St77 85]

That's hard to say. I was in the hospital for 3 days because there were issues with pain control and originally I had planned to take 2 1/2 weeks off (I also work from home), but ended extending it an additional week due to complications.

Some people have taken less time, others take a bit more, so it really seems to be an individual basis.

Do you have flexibility with using less time off or getting more as needed?

[catwoman7 10,873]

I had a desk job (I'm retired now). I took three weeks off but could have gone back after two. With working from home, you may not even need that much time - although like St77 said, it tends to be an individual thing.

[The Greater Fool 1,953]

It took me 2-3 weeks to get to a point where I could sustain an adequate level of thought to muddle through working at home. It was a combination of getting to a point where pain wasn't completely disabling and the ability to consume enough calories consistently to keep my brain working. It was only about a week more before I could manage office attendance.

A work acquaintance just had Gastric Bypass a couple months ago and was useless for work for 6 weeks which included a bad period of a couple weeks that had him back in the hospital for a couple days. Part of his problem was trying to work too hard too soon which compounded the other issues.

If there's a lesson it's don't push too hard too soon.

Good luck,

Tek

[Joy in the journey 1]

Thanks everyone. Guess I should just take it as it comes and listen to my surgeon. My employer is flexible. I'm just trying to plan things.

[LivDee 12]

I took two weeks off and it was needed. I too work from home, but the weakness and fatigue those first 2 weeks along with the brain fog, no way I would have been able to focus.

[Candigrl1 152]

I took ten days off and wish I had taken a bit more time. If I needed to rest it was easy but trying to make it through the day when you feel weakness was a bit hard. Overall only you know your own body and what you are capable of and speak with your doctor to find out the average time off most patients take and go from there.

[Authoa 17]

I work from home as well FLA allowed me to take 6 weeks. My doctor also recommended 6 weeks to help get use to all the changes your body will go through.

I was doing great no issues so I returned to work in 4 weeks. I have an awesome employer after I went back to work I still got tired. They were ok that if I needed a nap I could go take one and just make up the time.

I would recommend that you STRONGLY pay attention to how your mind and body is doing before going back to work. For me the first 2 weeks where rough, but things slowly got back to normal around the 4th week for me.

Good Luck!

[NP_WIP 273]

I also work from home; my surgery was also on Tuesday, and I had no issues working on Monday.

I did lay out the medicine cups provided at the hospital and was sipping them all day not to forget the Water intake.

[Joy in the journey 1]

That's encouraging! Hope I do as well as you did!!

[Candigrl1 152]

15 minutes ago, NP_WIP said:

I also work from home; my surgery was also on Tuesday, and I had no issues working on Monday.

I did lay out the medicine cups provided at the hospital and was sipping them all day not to forget the Water intake.

LOL...I kept knocking mine over. But they did help me get my Water goals in.

[Jeanniebug 472]

Congratulations!!!

I work from home, on the computer - customer service, on the phone. At the time of my surgery, my job was part time - 5.5 hours a day. I took 3 weeks off. But, I wish I would've been able to take 6.

I'm 3-months post-op. To this day, I still have some residual pain and discomfort in my diaphragm (it's mostly just a nuisance, at this point). A recent EGD found a small hiatal hernia that wasn't apparent at the time of surgery. For several weeks, I wasn't able to sit straight upright for long periods of time. Thankfully, my desk chair reclines, so I was able to lean back and get some relief while working.

[CeciliaInPNW 7]

On 1/18/2023 at 1:46 PM, Joy in the journey said:

I work from home full-time and will be having surgery on a Tuesday morning. How long should I plan to be off work?

I work from home and I took 3 weeks off and wished I had taken 4 weeks. The first 2 weeks were a blur, I don't remember much and I didn't lose the mental fog until really right at the end of that 3 week mark. I went back to work on the 4th week but immediately made a few mistakes, which is not common for me. I would recommend planning for 4 weeks off and if you feel good enough to go back to work earlier you can.

[CeciliaInPNW 7]

On 1/19/2023 at 1:22 PM, NP_WIP said:

I also work from home; my surgery was also on Tuesday, and I had no issues working on Monday.

I did lay out the medicine cups provided at the hospital and was sipping them all day not to forget the Water intake.

Gastric Sleeve recovery is very different from Gastric Bypass recovery, in my own experience and from what I have seen from others.