How long should you be off work after having a sleeve?

[turtlewoman]

I keep reading about people who go back to work like 5 days after the sleeve. Is that possible? I'm a nurse and sometimes have to do some heavy lifting with moving patients and such. I don't want to end up with a hernia because I lifted too soon after surgery. Yikes! I am super pumped to have the surgery if I could just get the medical and insurance communities to work along with me.

[mels80]

I was told two weeks... but absolutely no lifting anything more than 20lbs until cleared by my surgeon. However they did say iuf its a desk job with minimal activity you could go back sooner.

[GigiUSA]

Kate, I am planning to go back to work a week after surgery but I have a desk job and can work from home via my laptop if needed. I am worried that I won't be able to lift my grand babies for a while though. Hope you can take the needed time off to fully heal (hugs)

[Christie13]

I went back exactly 1 week later but also have a desk job. As a nurse I would think longer as you can't lift. If you search member RehabNurse she may have better insight. There are lots of nurses on here but her username was easiest to remember.

[Kindle]

I am a vet tech, so probably have a similar job description (with patients that don't talk back ). On my feet all day, lots of bending, squatting, lifting, etc. I was back to work by day 7 but had a lifting restriction of under 20 pounds for 3 weeks. Fortunately I was able to work around the restriction. from what I've read, my restriction was actually pretty lax. Some folks are told no more than 10 pounds for up to 6 weeks. So I guess I'd check with your surgeon to see what he recommends. A lot of employers also won't let you come back without a clearance from your surgeon and depending on your duties, you may or may not be able to work around the weight limitations.

[sraebaer]

Two weeks was perfect for me. I was a teacher, didn't have to lift anyone, but was on my feet most of the day.

[turtlewoman]

srsebaer, you're wrong. You do the heaviest lifting of anybody. You lift the minds of your students.

[Janice55]

I'm a nurse, I took 6 weeks, and when I want I will go back, but I'm covered. L&D is a lot of holding legs etc so I'm not rushing it. Plus nurses never have the time to eat so have to have that down first.

[RehabNurse]

I was an RN house supervisor at a specialty hospital when I was sleeved two years ago. I took two weeks off, although I could have returned to work in one week because my recovery was uncomplicated.

The surgery is not that major...it takes the typical surgeon 30 to 45 minutes to perform laporascopically. Unless you have uncontrolled pain or nausea, there's no need to take more than a couple of weeks off unless you want to conjure up a mini vacation out of your medical leave time.