How long before you returmed to work fulltime?

[Terry45]

I was just wondering how much time off from work most people took and how long before you returned to being fully active in your jobs and lives? I am 5 months post-op and seem to be doing fine. I returned to work part time after two months. I have completed cardiac rehab and completed two 5k runs, slowly and with a new personal worse but completed both of my goals. Run the entire 5k and don't finish last. Now it looks loke it is time to go back to work full time. I have a two week professional development course I have to attend soon at FT Bliss Texas. It's time to fly again also. I'm a little nervous about the school and flying to FT Bliss but ready for it at the same time.

Any thoughts?

 

[Cooker]

I had no rehab and was back at work full time in one month....

 

[Jkm7]

I flew after both my OHS within 8-10 weeks.
We have VR.org members who traveled for their surgeries and flew home within a week after their surgeries and did fine. NO lifting for them, or course, but at 5 months, your original lifting restriction must have been lifted for a long time now.

Listen to your doctors, your rehab professionals and your body.
You likely are ready.

 

[traveler]

Returned to work (as a professor) 5 days after surgery. But I slept 2-3 hours a day in my office for the first month. Probably I was real full time at about 6 weeks. I did 12 weeks of rehab but just worked around it.

 

[ski girl]

After my first op I was back part-time two weeks after surgery and full-time three weeks after, but if I felt tired I went home early. I have a desk job though and even though I was moving kinda slowly, my brain was fine! (well, normal . . . )

We all recover at different rates but I was bored after a week at home, being off work for longer would have been counter-productive for me mentally!

After my second op (redo AVR for acute endocarditis 11 months after the first op) I was held against my will in hospital for a month and when I finally escaped my new valve had successfully smashed the majority of my blood cells to bits - not unusual for a new mechanical valve but it left me very anemic and lethargic. 'Pasty' was the term my friends used. I started a new job two weeks after I got out, still 'pasty' and unable to walk more than 200m. I wish I had been able to take another couple weeks off, but I managed OK.

 

[Oilman]

Terry45,

I have been thinking the same thing lately, I have a job that doesn't require any labour, but requires a lot of site supervision, data input and organizing services for the next day. I work at a oil rig site as the supervisor. I will have to drive a hour each morning to location and the same at night going home. I usually decide how long we work that day, so I could keep it to 9-10 hr days on site. My biggest fear is that in this line of work when we start a rig job, they can run 20 days straight before any days off. My surgeon said last week just work half days, lol,, I told him it can't happen. I guess if I need a nap, I do have a couch and TV in my office. I should be able to relax, I hope. I am planning on going back to work in 3 weeks, that will be a total of 11 weeks off post op. I will have only completed half of the cardio rehab, but have been doing most at home on the treadmill and bike every day.My therapist feels I will do fine with exercise on my own. So I'm hoping I can get that part of my life back to normal soon too.

 

[epstns]

Terry - You didn't state your age. That could make a difference.

I was 63 at the time of surgery. I was back to work (office job) part-time at about 5 weeks, and full-time by 7 or 8 weeks. For me, the big limiter was that I was not allowed to drive for 5 weeks post-op. After that, I started rehab at 12 weeks and just worked my schedule around it. I've been working full-time (and then some - 50-60 hrs/week) since the 8 week mark, along with daily trips to the gym and everything else.

 

[Rachel]

I had a little bit different experience from others here who already posted. I was 46 at the time of my surgery, but I was very weak afterwards so I didn't go back to my desk job until after 8 weeks and that was part time. I stayed part time for the next 6 weeks and then I went full time. But I was severely anemic, and had lost so much weight despite having a very slow metabolism to begin with (I'm treated for hypothyroidism, but after surgery I weighed 105 at 5'5). I just couldn't seem to gain any of my weight back although I was eating a lot six times a day.

I think that if you're running 5K's already, you're doing pretty good!

Rachel

 

[Jkm7]

Terry45,

I have been thinking the same thing lately, I have a job that doesn't require any labour, but requires a lot of site supervision, data input and organizing services for the next day. I work at a oil rig site as the supervisor. I will have to drive a hour each morning to location and the same at night going home. I usually decide how long we work that day, so I could keep it to 9-10 hr days on site. My biggest fear is that in this line of work when we start a rig job, they can run 20 days straight before any days off. My surgeon said last week just work half days, lol,, I told him it can't happen. I guess if I need a nap, I do have a couch and TV in my office. I should be able to relax, I hope. I am planning on going back to work in 3 weeks, that will be a total of 11 weeks off post op. I will have only completed half of the cardio rehab, but have been doing most at home on the treadmill and bike every day.My therapist feels I will do fine with exercise on my own. So I'm hoping I can get that part of my life back to normal soon too.

Rehab is not necessary for successful healing for all patients. I had great insurance that would have paid for anything my doctor ordered but my cardio suggested to me that while he recommends it for most of his patients, he didn't think I would get enough 'extra' out of it above what I was doing on my own for myself that would make it worth it. His words were something along the lines of 'it's not for everyone' and some will get to full healing on their own.

You seem to have gotten to a point in your rehab where you likely would not suffer if you can not complete all the sessions.

 

[MarkU]

I was 47 at the time of my AVR and went back to work after four weeks. I worked half-days for the first couple of weeks. Unfortunately my company closed about eight weeks after my surgery, so I had some involuntary time off for about six weeks until I started a new job.
Never went through rehab; I was very active physically prior to my surgery and my cardiologist thought it would be a waste of time.
Good luck,
Mark

 

[marc_kowal]

I was 41 at the time of my AVR and in decent shape. I started doing re-hab at 8 weeks. Went back to work part time at 10 weeks (sitting and doing design work). Back at work full time at 12 weeks.

Good luck!

 

[nngbwh]

No rehab for me. I took full advantage of my work disability which is 3 months. It really help out.

 

[Terry45]

Thanks for the great replies and sharing your experiences. I'm pretty much back to full time work on working on getting back to a really active lifestyle. I ran four or five times a week prior to surgery and fished bass tournaments as much as possible. I have full intentions of getting the boat back in the water by the end of February. I should be attending my professional development course at FT Bliss at the end of the month.

 

[Guyswell]

Don't be concerned about flying. I had both my surgeries out of town and flew home about 8 days post-surgery (age 41 and age 49). In both cases, I was still pretty weak so I opted for a wheelchair ride through the airport. Other than that, there was nothing unusal about flying.

 

[markymark70]

Hahahahaha americans,always bragging about how fast the gone to work again

 

[VegasBAV]

Haha. 3 weeks for me. Desk job.

 

[gerrychuck]

I was very weak after surgery, with significant heart failure and shortness of breath, so I took a while to get back on my feet. I started doing supervisory and administrative work for about 6 hours per week at about 7-8 weeks post-op, and started 5-6 hours/day last week (at 12 weeks) doing my normal work as a physical therapist. Hope to be back to full time first week in February.

 

[Bean Counter]

I was off of work for a full 6 weeks, but only worked 1/2 days my first week back. I did not think I needed those 1/2 days until I would come home and had not problem falling asleep for an afternoon nap. That seemed to be the right amount of time for me.

 

[mainframe]

Ten days after my first surgery I had to go back to the ICU with a rapid heart rate and blood clot in my leg. I checked in on a Tueday, got out on a Friday and went back to work as a contract programmer for Verizon Wireless on Monday, though I'd leave when I got tired.

The second surgery was out of town and I went back to work 6 days after flying back to Seattle, though I got a nice rest the more than 2 plus months I was in the hospital.

 

[pumpkinhead]

Terry - You didn't state your age. That could make a difference.

I was 63 at the time of surgery. I was back to work (office job) part-time at about 5 weeks, and full-time by 7 or 8 weeks. For me, the big limiter was that I was not allowed to drive for 5 weeks post-op. After that, I started rehab at 12 weeks and just worked my schedule around it. I've been working full-time (and then some - 50-60 hrs/week) since the 8 week mark, along with daily trips to the gym and everything else.

Have you had any problems in the gym? change your style of work outs? I used to competitive bodybuild, when I was in the hospital (ventilator for 5 days, and icu for another 6) I lost almost 35lbs of muscle..I had my wife cover all the mirrors so I don't even see myself. I am terrified if I will ever be able to return to anything even close to what I used to be in the gym.