How long did you stay home from school (or work)?

[Lala082008]

I'm wondering how long you all felt you needed to stay home from work or school after getting your surgery. I'm getting ready to go back to school, and I'm worried that they won't let me take off the time that I need for my surgery. I'll be in nursing school, so I will also have clinical rotations that I have to attend.

My surgeon initially told me I would probably get my BSSO surgery after about 12 months of Invisalign. But today I met with my orthodontist, who put on my attachments, and he said it would probably be more like 18-21 months. I've had my aligners for a month now, so we're talking summer 2017. I'm hoping this does end up being the timeframe since at least my summer schedule should allow a few weeks off, but I'm still not sure that I will be able to take off the 6-8 weeks my surgeon suggested. Plus, who knows if the timeframe for my surgery will shift down the road.

Has anyone experienced trying to balance being a student and recovering from the surgery?

[adorkable8605]

I'm in nursing school and I had double jaw surgery in August 11, 2015 and returned to classes on August 25, 2015 and clinicals the week after that. It sucked having the splint and rubberbands, but it went by quickly and it wasn't too big of a deal. I knew that my nursing program would not allow for any additional time and I did the surgery during the break between the summer and fall semesters. I made sure to be as active as I could be after the surgery and used TONS of ice and heat to reduce the swelling and bruising.

[jaime]

Hey Lala, 6-8 weeks that your surgeon recommended is definitely on the high end. Mine only recommends 2!

Personally, I took 6 weeks off and it felt like more than enough. I have a pretty laid back desk job and felt I could have gone back at 4, but I definitely appreciated not feeling rushed to go back.

[snapdresser]

I second what Jaime said: 6-8 weeks seems like a long time. I took 4 weeks off from my job and that was plenty. You could probably take off 3 weeks and be fine. Any less than that and you'll probably feel rushed, I would think.

[EWUgal15]

I took 3 weeks off from work. When I did start working again, I was working from home. Still 8 hours a day though. I also started going back to the gym he same day I went back to working. I was pretty restless at that point.

[sirwired]

I work from home, and I was back at work from my LeFort I in two weeks. I won't guarantee you'll feel 100% at that point, and you'll quickly grow sick of "meal-replacement drinks" (since those are the easiest to consume on the go), but it should be okay, barring unforeseen complications. You'll still be a little swollen, but you shouldn't look like you just ended up on the losing end of a bar brawl last night either.

[Lala082008]

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments!! I feel more confident now that I will be able to fit my surgery into my school schedule, although I know it won't be easy.

Now I just have to worry about hoping that my insurance agrees to cover it. My orthodontist says he's never had anyone not eventually have their insurance cover the procedure, but I can't help but worry. Because if I weren't getting surgery, my ortho said I'd be using elastics from now on to bring my lower jaw forward to at least fix my bit somewhat. But since I'm planning on going the surgery route, he isn't using any elastics. Ugh - so much to worry about!

[Tgirl22]

I guess I'm a whimp. I originally had 5 weeks set to be off and am now extending it by 1 week. I just got off pain meds 3.5 weeks... I will be going back after I get the splint off, that's why I extended it a week. I'm very glad for this much time off, not sure I would do a good Juan otherwise because I don't have the energy or brain capacity due to the forced diet. Maybe cause I'm 41 yrs old....