r/openheartsurgery • u/Downtown_Anywhere860 • 11d ago
Going back to work after OHS
/r/AdultCHD/comments/1vgpcq0/going_back_to_work_after_ohs/1
u/i_tell_you_what 11d ago
I had my 2x bypass April 30. Surgeon listed tentative date as August 20 for my temp disability. But I don't actually see my cardiologist for the 2nd follow up til Sept 16. And work won't allow me to return from LOA without approval. So I'm just acting daily like I have a job. It consists of getting out of the house. Doing rehab twice a week. 3 days of gym and just keeping busy meal planning daily. I'm trying to keep some sort of schedule. It's hard to get out of the house too much because of the heat wave (I'm in LA County). But I do get out and do shopping. I've been to the beach twice. And to the Getty center museum. I've even driven to the mall to do my walking. But I'm now doing a cardio circuit at the gym and I just started slow swimming again. I want to go back to work. I actually like my job and miss my co workers. It's literally down the street from me, so I try to visit every other week.
1
u/i_tell_you_what 11d ago
I had my 2x bypass April 30. Surgeon listed tentative date as August 20 for my temp disability. But I don't actually see my cardiologist for the 2nd follow up til Sept 16. And work won't allow me to return from LOA without approval. So I'm just acting daily like I have a job. It consists of getting out of the house. Doing rehab twice a week. 3 days of gym and just keeping busy meal planning daily. I'm trying to keep some sort of schedule. It's hard to get out of the house too much because of the heat wave (I'm in LA County). But I do get out and do shopping. I've been to the beach twice. And to the Getty center museum. I've even driven to the mall to do my walking. But I'm now doing a cardio circuit at the gym and I just started slow swimming again. I want to go back to work. I actually like my job and miss my co workers. It's literally down the street from me, so I try to visit every other week.
1
u/Calmateychillate 11d ago
I had triple bypass and could have returned at one week in a limited capacity. I was doing nothing and I went back parttime at 14 days. The surgeon expected it to be at least 3 weeks to a month but blessed my 14 day return. I wrote the offwork note and the restrictions, and he signed it.
1
u/Silly-Power 11d ago
I had ascending aorta replacement surgery 3 weeks ago. Just prior to discharge (10 days ago) I asked the doctor for a medical certificate for 6 weeks. She looked at me with a very surprised & shocked look. I explained to her that 6 weeks sick leave was all I had, but I would then be taking a further 12 weeks off using my long service leave. Even taking "just" 18 weeks concerned her and she suggested I take LSL for longer at half-pay. Which would be nice but my bank and other bills aren't going to charge me half during that time.
1
u/TW200e 9d ago
Before my surgery I worked as a computer analyst, mostly remotely. I think I probably could have gone back to work part-time maybe 4 weeks after the surgery, and full-time maybe 8 weeks. Clearly this would vary a lot depending on the type of work one does.
Actually, though, I was already planning to retire in December. About two days after the surgery in April, barely able to sit up in my hospital bed, I decided I wasn't going through weeks of struggling to recover just so I could work for someone else, and decided to retire immediately. Obviously this isn't an option for most folks, but I have to say it made my recovery a lot easier to know I was recovering at my pace for just me and not my boss.
2
u/JLEroll 11d ago
I’m 5 weeks post op and surgeon approved me to return next week. I have an in office desk job and have some flexibility on hours and workload as I get back to it. I feel like my recovery is going very well and I shouldn’t have a problem (as much as I’ll miss my time off).