Will I have to take time off of work after hysterectomy on 9/24?

I am a single mom and work 8 to 10 hours a day waitressing at a very busy restaurant, I'm not sure how many days I will need to have off to recover. I'm more nervous about missing work, then the surgery. I have cancer and need a hysterectomy. I am scared to death and have no clue what's going to happen.

I am so sorry about your diagnosis. Your dr will go over all of that with you at your pre op appt. It depends a lot on what exactly you have done and how. If you are a waitress though, there is no doubt that you will need to plan on taking time off. Your dr should be better able to give you a realistic estimate of how many weeks you can expect to take off.

Total honesty, I'd say be prepared to need at least 2-3 weeks. I had DaVinci (robotic assisted, vaginal removals), which is the least invasive and my healing has been fairly painless, but I went back to work full time (high school teacher) 20 days post op and can say the exertion will wear you out and make you ache. You may also be dealing with trying to normalize your hormones depending on which kind of surgery you have and what they're removing. Best of luck to you, I hope everything works out.

Dear Wendy,

We are sorry you are faced with this surgery and all it entails.

You will definitely need time off from work, as the others here have mentioned. While no one has a crystal ball to predict what will happen, your surgeon should have a good estimate of time you will need to recover.

I strongly suggest you have an oncologist/gynecologist perform your surgery. If you haven't gotten second and third opinions, please do so! You need to know all your options. Ask the doctor if further treatment down the road is expected.

Start enlisting any friends, family and religious organizations, to arrange help for you in taking care of both you and your child.

Here is a link to an article about Recovery:

Anticipated Time off From Work

You are not alone. We are here to help support you on your journey.

Keep asking those questions.

Hugs and hang in there.

There are a number of other women that has posted in these forums who are waitresses. You might do a search to find out how it went with them.

Not only will you be dealing with soreness and exhaustion, but you will have weight limits for a while. A lot depends on they type of surgery you have plus what your doctor says. When you do go back to work, i would see if you could do only half shifts to begin with.

Also your pre-surgery conditioning will play a role.

Of course you're scared, and that's perfectly normal. The other sisters have given excellent advice (as usual!), including recommending a gynecological oncologist, since your surgery is due to cancer. As for returning to work, I had a radical hysterectomy (open procedure) and returned to work part time four weeks later.

For issues related to your diagnosis, you're welcome to check out our Cancer Concerns forum, if you'd like. There's lots of helpful information as well as ladies who've been there/done that who'll be glad to share their experiences and help along your journey.

Depending on your cancer type and staging, it's possible that surgery will be your "only" treatment. This was the case for me, and we'll keep our fingers crossed big time that it will be for you as well. However things go, you absolutely will be able to handle things, and we'll be here for you. We're glad you found us!

So sorry to hear of your upcoming surgery and its reason. You will need time off from work. I am 3 weeks post op and have an office job and even part time shifts are wearing me out. I can't imagine waitressing at this point. Good luck to you!

I went back to work at a part-time desk job at four weeks *but* was not allowed to lift 30-40 lb boxes in the archives area. For the first four weeks after surgery, my lift limit was 10 lbs.

You have a job that involves:
1) Being on your feet
2) For 8-10 hours at a time
3) And probably having to lift more than 10 lbs (heavy trays and plates)?

Explain to your doctor exactly what your job involves physically. Don't just say "waitressing" and expect him to understand. Hopefully he'll be able to give you an estimate at to how many weeks you'll need to take off.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by wendyo630 I am a single mom and work 8 to 10 hours a day waitressing at a very busy restaurant, I'm not sure how many days I will need to have off to recover. I'm more nervous about missing work, then the surgery. I have cancer and need a hysterectomy. I am scared to death and have no clue what's going to happen.

Hi,
You are definitely in the right place! The advice here is so valuable and it will help you get through the fears and concerns you are facing now. Please know that you are not alone.

One thing I'd like to point out is that if you're not well, you won't be all you'd love to be for yourself and your kids so don't worry about the days you'll miss from work. Try to focus on getting better. The days off work will depend on your doctors advice concerning your procedure and healing progress. Your doctor will advise you of when you're able to return to work and resume normal activities. Please contact him or her and ask what the expected recovery time is so that you'll know how to plan accordingly for your job and your family.

Wendy .... Good luck with your surgery and your recovery. Just wanted to offer words of support.

Also, I just wanted to follow to mention that I noticed someones response that other waitresses have asked similar questions, and I've also noticed a lot of questions from Teachers looking for other Teachers. Is there somewhere on here we can make a suggestion for Occupation related boards ... might be a good idea to help people looking for answers related to recovery questions specific to their occupations.