Recovery time

[sue3576]

Hi everyone,
A bit of background...I have a 7-8cm cyst on my left ovary.  CA125 of 10, ultrasound shows no sign of a malignancy, so they are not too concerned about that.  Dr. I was seeing wasn't confident in doing a cyst this size laparoscopically so he referred me to another Dr who is apparently an "expert" in removing large cysts like this by "bagging" it and removing it that way through the tiny incision instead of having open surgery.
I met with the surgeon yesterday who is going to call me with a surgery date, but feels it will be sometime in January.  I am trying to plan some things and am not sure about recovery time.  The surgeon said that it will be "a piece of cake"...easy for him to say he's not the one having it done! He said I should be off work 24-48 hours.  That seems unbelievable to me.  That seems way too short.  I know it is outpatient surgery so I will be home same day, but I'm not sure how long to tell my work I will be off.  I don't want to rush it as I have plenty of sick time I can use.
Anyone have any suggestions?

[sue3576]

Thanks for all your comments ladies.  I appreciate your information.  I knew is seemed way too short.  I think maybe I will tell them I need a couple of weeks off but that we can see how things go after the surgery.
I'm not in that big of a hurry to get back to work.

[marinemom2]

Along the lines here my son had a burst appendix, so they had to do a large incision that was left open and had to be packed. This just happened back in September, he was in the hospital for three days, the day he was being discharged the doctor said he could drive, go do whatever he wanted as long as it didn't involve lifting. I couldn't believe it. He of course didn't feel like doing anything for some time, but I couldn't believe the doctor told him he could drive right away. I remember when I had him 25 years ago c-section I was told to wait 6 weeks before I could drive.

Kathy

[Silvara]

I sometimes wonder if surgeons are giving short recovery times because they're bragging about their skills?  

I had 4 large fibroids in '00 and the first Dr I saw about them said he would remove them with open surgery and I would be back driving to school (a 120 mile round trip) in 2 weeks (over Winter Break).  After open abdominal surgery!!  I didn't believe him and went to another surgeon who looked shocked and said I must have misunderstood the other Dr. (they all stick together).

[babypooh]

Everyone is different, but for a laparascopy, it's usually about a week.  The most painful thing is the gas that's left over inside you.  I had a laparatomy in April and for me, the recovery was easy.  I had a c-section four years ago and the c-section was way more painful than this surgery.  The day I came home from the hospital I was up and about.  Everyone is different, but I for starters, I would suggest asking for 2 weeks off and if you feel welll before then, tell your work that you'll be back sooner.  It's better to ask for more time and be back before than to ask for some time and then have to call and ask for more.  Good luck.

[midwest_hiker]

I had a laparotomy done 3 weeks ago and will be going back to work next week.  I started working from home this week.  My incision was about 6-7 inches long.  My doctor had originally told me I could go back in 2 weeks.  No way would that have been reasonable, I was still taking pain meds at 2 weeks.  I know my incision was much larger, but I can't believe 2 days off would be enough.  I would go at least a week.

[marinemom2]

No way will you be off 24-48 hours. I am going for my follow up appointment tomorrow. I had my surgery done on the 14th of November. I still do not feel 100 percent. Today was the first day I left the house and drove by myself. I have been out of the house, but I have not drove myself. I made the mistake of doing some vacuuming the first week after I had my surgery and then I felt awful after that. I then took it easy and did very little. You really do need to take it easy. My doctor wrote a letter that I needed to take to work that said this was a major surgery and I could be off for up to six weeks, but she would not know for sure until my follow up appointment. Just because the incisions are small it is still a major surgery. This is where I have a hard time. You know as a woman and a mother we tend to forget to take care of ourselves, and I am not one to sit still and let people do for me. I had a hard time letting my husband do the stuff around the house. That and he just doesn't do it the same way as I do.

Kathy