by NeuropathicGuy » 14 Sep 2010, 10:47
I agree, not taking time off from work after LIS is ludicrous. It's so outlandish that it'd be hilarious if it weren't so misleading. Most surgeons will quote ~1 week off from work, which is already highly optimistic. Yes, it happens, and yes, if you take the right painkillers you can probably make it back to work in a week if you absolutely have to even with slow healing. But very, very, very few people are fully recovered in a week, or even two weeks. It's happened on occasion, sure, but it's far from the norm.
I think in a so-called "normal" case, most folks will tell you that it takes about a month to feel pretty good. But some will have slow healing after surgery. As Steve says, he still has pain after 6 weeks. I personally had pain for months after surgery and didn't return to work for a month. I work a desk job (computer programming) and was lucky in that I just worked from home for that month. When I did come back to the office, I still took Vicodin on occasion because the pain was still very bothersome, and driving was pretty uncomfortable. Granted, my case was a bit complicated because I had a second surgery 2 weeks after LIS because my incision got infected, but still, I had pain for months after surgery and still do now but to a much lesser extent. Both of my surgeries were in May of this year.
I don't like judging doctors that I haven't met, but honestly, if you've got a surgeon telling you that no time off from work is needed, all there is after surgery is a little burning and discomfort, and that the procedure takes just 5 minutes, then I really don't know what to say :(
I don't think you should assume that you'll have slow healing or be an otherwise unusual case, but personally I'd assume a minimum of 1-2 weeks off from work and not feeling close to normal for 1 month even for a typical case.