To Work or Leave the Job

[bahlvarun]

As you know I am around 31, am away from my family and working in another city, pretty far away from my home town and on my own staying in a rented flat.

I had this question in mind, Since I will be having surgery in a years time, should I plan on leaving this job and stay with my family? or can I survive on my own even after OHS.

Keeping in mind the anti-cog. stuff it seems far more difficult.

Shoot me your thought on this situation.

PS: I am not married and my mom and Dad can't come here and stay with me, coz my Dad had CABG and is still working with a handsome salary...

 

[RI Mom]

I wonder if you could leave your job temporarily for 6-8 weeks or so. That way, you could recover at home with your parents assistance. I think it would be difficult physically and emotionally to go it completely alone.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I don't know how Health Insurance and Life Insurance works in India, but in the USA, once you are known as a "Heart Patient", it is Very Difficult (almost impossible) or Very Expensive to find Health Insurance and Life Insurance.

SO, if you have insurance through your job, it would be best if you can arrange for some type of 'short term disability' while you recover from your surgery and then return to your work in 6 to 8 weeks (assuming a normal recovery).

 

[tobagotwo]

You can work fine after your recovery. Usual time provided for recovery by short-term disability in the US is six weeks. I would arrange to return to work in six weeks.

During initial recovery, you may or may not need assistance. It's probably best to be where someone can help.

Best wishes,

 

[bahlvarun]

I Could take a loss of Pay and leave for 6weeks, but what after that? Will it be OK to be on my own after that or do I need help in future as well?

AlCapShaw2:
You are right, health and life insurance is only thorugh my employer and that is also one of the reason for asking.

Second, reason was whether I will be able to sustain my life alone going forward. Everyone here is either married and has a family. For me its going to be one lone road ahead....

 

[dick0236]

I Could take a loss of Pay and leave for 6weeks, but what after that? Will it be OK to be on my own after that or do I need help in future as well?

AlCapShaw2:
You are right, health and life insurance is only thorugh my employer and that is also one of the reason for asking.

Second, reason was whether I will be able to sustain my life alone going forward. Everyone here is either married and has a family. For me its going to be one lone road ahead....

I don't know the details of mecical and life insurance in your country, but....
...normally, six weeks recovery time should be enough unless you have a manually demanding job or you have unforseen problems.

Depending on the rules concerning insurance, you may have "continuation or coversion rights". Check with your employer.

After surgery you should be able to sustain your life alone although in your early recovery I think you will need assistance for a least a few weeks.

If it were me, I would explore every avenue to spend a little post-op time with family.

 

[hensylee]

you will need some help when you first go home. someone to be there when you shower, to fix your meals for a few days, someone to walk with you for a short while and just to make sure you are taken care and not alone. I was in hospital for six days after quad bypass and needed help at home - could not have made it on my own. We have had one or two members in the past who went it alone, but it was difficult for them. after six weeks you should probably be able to return to work, depending upon what sort of work you do. any heavy lifting or labor wouldn't be good for you.

This is the general schedule for us, however individually, it could be different.

Wishing you well -

don't quit your job.

 

[Ross]

After 6 weeks, you should be capable of doing most everything on your own. The question is, will your employer allow you to return to work without finding some reason to terminate you like they do here in the U.S.

Seems many people that employed before surgery, are not soon after their return to work.

 

[Nancy]

One important thing is that you will not be able to drive for a few weeks after surgery. The other thing is that you will have lifting restrictions.

You will be weak and also very tired after surgery for a while. And it will be difficult to sleep for any length of time for a week or two.

Having taken care of my husband through many thoracic surgeries, I can say that it would be best to be where you will have someone to help you for the first 5-6 weeks.

You may be able to get by with just 2 weeks of care, but it would be better if you could arrange a longer time, especially with a driving restriction.

You will be just fine after the initial healing phase and barring any complications, you can expect to go back to your normal routine, and also you can expect to be feeling much better.

 

[njean]

I agree with all the others in that you will need help for the first 5 to 6 weeks after OHS. You will need someone around to prepare your meals because you will be weak & it would be extremely hard for you to do this for yourself.

You'll need someone to take you to your dr appts., lab appts., etc. for at least 5 to 6 weeks after your surgery. Lifting, pushing, any kind of strenous activity, is NOT recommended for a long while after your surgery.

I hope that your employer allows you to take the time needed so that you are able to make a good recovery.

Wishing you lots of luck & let us know how you are doing!

 

[bahlvarun]

I guess I'll talk to the employer on this, I am more worried about the volatile INR that need to be controlled on a day to day basis....

Going to Lab on a day to day basis is also an issue..

 

[dick0236]

I guess I'll talk to the employer on this, I am more worried about the volatile INR that need to be controlled on a day to day basis....

Going to Lab on a day to day basis is also an issue..

I think you will find that your INR management will not be dificult and your visits to the lab will be infrequent(couple times per month). Maybe you can home test and then you won't have to go to the lab.

 

[lb151]

I think you will find that your INR management will not be dificult and your visits to the lab will be infrequent(couple times per month). Maybe you can home test and then you won't have to go to the lab.

Thats right,,you wont be going to the lab everyday. I was home alone for my whole recovery. I shopped for food before I went to the hospital and stocked my pantry and freezer. My kids brought me bread and milk. You do what you have to do.

 

[Eva]

You received all good advice! Just to wish you good luck.

 

[kfay]

I guess I'll talk to the employer on this, I am more worried about the volatile INR that need to be controlled on a day to day basis....

Going to Lab on a day to day basis is also an issue..

I think it is really hard for any of us to tell you what you should do. You may have a relatively "easy" recovery and start feeling well after a few short weeks. Or, you may have a long, hard recovery. There have been others on here who have done this completely on their own. The last one I can think of is Choufou. I think if you can take six weeks off, you may very well be able to go back to work after that time assuming you don't have a very strenous job. After I got discharged from the hospital, my husband stayed with me mostly for the second week (going into work for a couple of hours each day), and by the third week, I was home completely alone and was fine. I was able to do laundry, cook light meals, bathe alone, climb the stairs in my home, etc. I was also driving short distances by that time.

Is there anyway your mom could come and stay with you for the first week once you are out of the hospital? Or are there any services available that you could hire a nurse or someone to come help you out? I would hope that by the third week, you would find that you could be pretty self-sufficient.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Kim

 

[Lisa in Katy]

After 6 weeks, you should be capable of doing most everything on your own. The question is, will your employer allow you to return to work without finding some reason to terminate you like they do here in the U.S.

Seems many people that employed before surgery, are not soon after their return to work.

Ross, I would say "some" not "many". Obviously in our current economy, there are job losses and maybe they will pinpoint the ones that cause increased insurance rates, but really, they wouldn't see the benefit of that for over a year, longer if the person elects COBRA. I had a job when I had surgery, kept it until I chose to leave for another position, and actually have been in 4 different jobs since my surgery 11 years ago, all voluntary job changes.

As far as the original question, you will be able to live on your own shortly after surgery. The main reason to have surgery is so you can be as healthy as others your age. I could have taken complete care of myself as soon as I left the hospital, 6 days after surgery, and in fact, after a week of the church bringing meals, I politely told them that I no longer needed the assistance. Frankly, it is probably easier to be alone than in the position many of us females have been in. Yes, my husband was around if I needed him, but I had 2 young children (ages 5 & 7) who were very dependent on me and busy with activities - gymnastics, Brownies, baseball, school, etc. At least as a single person, if you are tired, you can go to bed.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I guess I'll talk to the employer on this, I am more worried about the volatile INR that need to be controlled on a day to day basis....

Going to Lab on a day to day basis is also an issue..

As others have said, not day to day. In fact if they ask you to come day to day, you need to find a new Coumadin manager. I never went sooner than 3 days, usually a week in the beginning.

 

[Ross]

I guess I'll talk to the employer on this, I am more worried about the volatile INR that need to be controlled on a day to day basis....

Going to Lab on a day to day basis is also an issue..

You will not be going on a daily basis. Twice a week to start, once stable every two weeks or once a month.

Testing more then twice a week is a complete waste of time and shows that who ever is managing you doesn't not understand how Coumadin works.

Believe me, we will help you get your INR straight in as little time as possible. We've helped more people then the Clinics and some Doctors have and I'm proud of that being that we are NOT PROFESSIONALS, but home testers and self dosers.

 

[Philip B]

Home Alone?

Home Alone?

I'll jump in here at the risk of irritating those who've offered their sincere advice in response to your question...

Recovery really is an individual thing. Mine was probably easy as opposed to what some others experienced. I took five days off work; this included my hospital stay. I returned to work 1/2 days the week after I got out of the hospital and full days the week after that. Yes, there are those who undoubtedly feel I pushed the return to work thing too hard and those folks are entitled to their opinions. I did what I felt was right for me and I really love my job.

There seems to be a lot of drama associated with this kind of surgery and that's okay because it's a big deal. There are some who deal with the circumstances associated with the surgery on their own, return to work fairly quickly, and are no worse off for the experience. Others need more time, assistance, and experience a more difficult recovery. You won't know what catagory you fall into until you're there. Of course, I feel circumstances often tend to provide motivation.

Daily trips to have your blood drawn following your release from the hospital; hope you've got lots of blood...you may run out.

Personally, I didn't need a lot of help around the house following surgery. This was a real source of frustration for my wife because she expected me to be really dependent. Frankly, she yelled at me a couple of times because I wasn't being dependent enough.

Someone has already commented something along the lines of doing what you have to. I like that comment because everyone seems to have a different experience and the circumstances we face tend to dictate what we have to do.

Our responses to questions like yours tend to reflect the nature of our experiences. One of the common elements in these experiences is that the experiences tend to be different.

-Philip

 

[sue943]

Second, reason was whether I will be able to sustain my life alone going forward. Everyone here is either married and has a family. For me its going to be one lone road ahead....

I live totally alone, I have no family living within more than 100 miles and as I live on an island that means no one can jump in a car to come and visit me.

I was kept in hospital for eleven days (UK) and was not permitted to be discharged to go home alone, I had to have someone to stay with. What the doctors didn't know was that although I stayed with my daughter for a few days both she and her fiance were at work all day and I was alone with the only bathroom being up a flight of very steep stairs and I was feeling very ill with digoxin toxicity and was developing complete heart block. After three nights with my daughter they needed my room (up two flights of very steep stairs) as they had guests arriving for their wedding so I moved into an hotel as planned. The next day I was admitted to hospital for another week.

Three weeks after my surgery I returned home alone and from that time cared for myself with just someone taking me shopping for groceries every few days.

I know that the heart block isn't likely to happen to many people following surgery but it did mean that I didn't have to fend for myself until three weeks out of surgery. At that stage provided you don't have to lift heavy items you ought to be able to cope if you need to.

I had to have my INR checked twice a week after my discharge from the hospital where I had my surgery until it settled then it went to weekly, then to two weekly, then three weekly and finally four weekly. It appears to be very stable but if it does go out of range the testing drops to two weekly again for me.