Hi Evie-
Welcome to this wonderful valve replacement home. You already have a lot of friends here who "get it" when it comes to this surgery.
My husband has an aortic mechanical, and a mitral mechanical. Both were implanted through the sternum. He then had to have a paravalvular leak repaired in the mitral and that was done using the Heartport method through his side. There are also other minimally invasive methods. You really need to get together with your cardiologist and discuss your situation. He can then guide you to the best resource for you.
Even though it might be possible to do the surgery in a minimally invasive way, that doesn't mean that you won't be going through major, major surgery and will need time to recover. The amount of time can vary from person to person. Most people can go back to work on a limited basis in about 6-8 weeks, if everything goes as expected. But if you have a very physical job, and I see that you're a nurse, you won't be able to do much in the way of lifting, over a small amount for quite a while because your body needs to heal. You will also not be allowed to drive for a while.
If you need the surgery, it would be better to bite the bullet and get it done sooner, rather than wait until things get worse. Ross and Joy have given you some avenues which could be pursued to try to get some help for your recovery period.
You also should have a heart to heart talk with your family and tell them that you're going to need help soon. Heart problems don't go away, there's nothing you can or could have done to prevent it, and there is just so much that can be done with minor surgeries and medications, that rest has to be corrected with major surgery, otherwise, you'll end up being very sick. Once you have the surgery and are done with the initial healing, you'll be feeling better than ever, and will be able to work to full capacity. It's worth the relatively short amount of time, if you view it in the concept of a whole lifetime.
I wish you the very best of health.