Lap ladies please come in...

Aime32 · January 2011

Good Morning Ladies, my lap is scheduled for Tuesday and I'm actually excited hoping that this will give us all some answers.

I am trying to get myself mentally prepared for what to expect after the procedure as far as pain and recovery. I know everyone is different as far as pain tolerance and recovery rate. I'm hoping that I will not need to take more time off of work than I'm already taking (I'm only taking Tueday for sx and Wednesday to recoup). Thursday and Friday I have a heavy patient flow which means it would be difficult to take off again (it was like pulling teeth to get a replacement for the two days I took off).

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot!

jesselayne8 · January 2011

I have never had a lap myself but speaking as a nurse I would think you need more than 1 day to recover. Did your doctor give you a timeline for going back to work?

Jezebell26 · January 2011

Unfortunately you are going to need more time then that. You can only do light activity for about 3 days and then should resume work in about 7 days. That was my timeline. I had my lap tues 12/28, i was scheduled to go to NYC to see American Idiot on thursday and we didn't make it. We had friends over on NYE and i was able to more around the house better and i got dressed and was in less amounts of pain. Every day the pain does get better. I was taking 4 ibuprofen 4x a day. Wed i barely moved off the couch and it hurt to get up and down, thurs i needed half a percocet during the day and the other half at night. I was sore sat from all the movement fri and didn't actually leave my house until sunday and returned to work monday. I had at least 5 good days of recovery and was well enough to go to work but was very sore when i got home. I had to immediately change and lay down. I was tired and sore all week but im finally moving around fairly regularly. Still can't lift anything heavy or do too much but at least i feel better. I know everyone is different, but just the fact that u are having surgery done is reason enough to take off work. I chose to do my surgery when i was off from work because i knew id be recovering all week. I was very swollen for about a week and felt bloated and sore. I am still swollen but not nearly as much as last week.

GL to you and i hope you recover quickly!

Aime32 · January 2011

jesselayne8:

I have never had a lap myself but speaking as a nurse I would think you need more than 1 day to recover. Did your doctor give you a timeline for going back to work?

My RE gave me a generic timeline of Thursday to Monday. I was authorized to go back Thursday if feeling ok and Monday if I'm not. They figured since I am at a desk all day doing surgeries it shouldn't be a problem, only if I can't move obviously.

Olive44 · January 2011

I had my surgery done on a Friday and went back to work on Wednesday. I would think only taking one day off is pushing it. I was not able to get up and move around for several days.

neko621 · January 2011

My lap is scheduled for March. My doctor advised me to give myself 3-5 days off to recover. I hope yours goes well and that you get some answers. Don't push yourself too much---get the rest you need to recuperate. GL!

Ms H13 · January 2011

I'm also having my lap done next week (Wednesday)! Like you I'm excited to finally have some answers.

From what I've heard everyone differs a little in their recovery. My doctor said I can go back to work on Monday if I'm feeling well (5 days of rest). I think that only 1 day of recovery would really be pushing it. Especially if you will be returning to work to do surgeries - think of it this way, if you knew that the Dr. who will be performing your lap had had surgery themselves on Sunday and weren't 100%, would you want them operating on you?

RN4Babies · January 2011

I just had my lap last month. I am a nurse and definetely would not have been able to go back to work that soon. My lap was on a Wednedsay and it took until Saturday before I was feeling 100%. The gas pains in my shoulders were what bothered me the most, but getting up and down was tough too. Good Luck!

boymamaco · January 2011

I hate to say this but I think you will need more time than that. I have a very high pain threshold and was happy I had several days to recoup. My doc recommended taking a week off which isn't in the cards for me. Surgery was on Wednesday and I went back to work on Monday.

The most painful part for me as part of the recovery was the referred pain in my shoulder from the CO2 that they use to inflate your abdominal cavity. It was fine if I was in one place, sitting or laying down. But if I was up and moving around, I had intense pain in one or both of my shoulders. The CO2 presses on the diaphragm which causes referred pain in the shoulder. I did get up and move around both Thursday and Friday but would have to sit dowm pretty quickly and give the pain time to dissapate. I chose not to take a lot of the pain killers because I felt like that was my own doing - being too active around the house.

The incision in my belly button was right about where my jeans rested. It was also my largest incision so was obviously going to be more painful. I didn't really notice it until I went back to work on Monday because I wore sweats/yoga pants around the house and didn't wear my actual work pants until Monday. I tried to wear my loosest fitting clothing and was still in quite a bit of pain. Now that I'm thinking back through the experience, my overall pain in my abdomin was most intense the following Mon-Wed. I think it was because I was up and working, and not at home. Granted I worked from home on my computer but I wasn't upright the entire day.

As you said, everyone is different. From a lot of the stories I read online, people I talked to on these boards, and other research I did, I actually felt like my experience was one of the better ones out there. I also think it depends on what they do while you are opened up. In my case, it was for a large dermoid cyst on my right ovary. And that was it. But if they had found one on my left ovary, or found endo, or that my appendix was inflamed and decided to take it out as a precautionary measure, I would have expected my recovery to be a lot harder.

Hope that helps. Sorry for the novel.

ETA: Getting the time off work was extremely difficult for me too. I work in a high pressure sales environment for a publicly traded company. People don't take time off, especially in December (our busiest month.) But your health should come first. Best of luck!

Aime32 · January 2011

Thanks alot for all of your input, I really appreciate it. I knew the procedure was involved but I thought one day in bed would do the trick. Looks like I'll be taking the rest of the week off. Thanks alot for all of your input!!!

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