Teachers who have had gallbladder surgery

[madametav]

I had the op in the last week of term and am due back at work on the 6th Jan. The recovery time is 2 weeks for a desk job but longer for a manual job with no heavy lifting for 6-8 weeks. The thing is I feel like my job falls between these two stools as whilst I don't need to do heavy lifting I do things like duties on crowded corridors and dining hall and the bus stop, transporting resources from and to classrooms as I don't have a room of my own and on calls where I am walking around building a lot. As anyone knows who works in a school it's not something you can ease Yourself back into, it's very much all or nothing and pretty tiring dealing with staff and students and parents all day.

I am no longer as exhausted as I was in the first week and I don't require as much pain relief but i am still a bit tender and very wary of getting a knock. Whilst I don't feel as tired as I did, I have done very little over the holidays, so not sure how I will manage a full working day.
I am wondering if any other teachers have had this op and how long they needed off work.

Can't help with the surgery, but yes it's definitely different from a desk job. Don't feel you have to fit into that category - you're on your feet all day and running around and you can't choose to take a little bit of down time when needed. Someone always wants your attention and if you're not 100% it's incredibly difficult. I'd say don't rush back.

I had two weeks off. I found sitting difficult for the first week back at work so didn’t do any marking. Standing and the actually teaching was fine. I did have my own classroom at the time.

Surely your school will willingly let you skip lunch duty etc for a couple of weeks if that's your concern, far easier for them than you having more time off!

I had mine two weeks before a half term holiday, and had been signed off for up to 4 weeks, though I ended up going back mid week the first week back, so ended up being 3.5 weeks. There was no way I was ready by 2 weeks, but the full recovery was very sudden when it happened-it went from me thinking 'im not sure how I can go back like this' at about 2.5 weeks, to feeling fully fine 3/4 days later.
Hope it's as clear for you!

I had a ruptured appendix a couple of years ago. I had two weeks off, but had been told it may be up to four by the hospital.

I'm an early years teacher and knew after 2 weeks I was not up to the full physical demands of the job. I have a great head, who totally understood. I took the 4 weeks so that I was fully physically ready to go back at 100 per cent, and it was the right decision.

It was keyhole surgery but I really needed the 4 weeks.

Don't rush back as you don't want to hinder your recovery getting pushed, overdoing it etc. It's a tricky one as it's all about potential risk rather than overtly unsuitable duties (like manual labour would be), but those risks are real enough to not be worth it.

That tendency to not feel ill enough to justify or deserve the time is not to be listened to - you've had a significant surgery and would not feel remotely begrudging of a colleague taking enough time off to be fully recovered. Get another week with potential for more if needed!

I know several fellow colleagues who have had this done and it’s varied from two weeks to a couple of months. You should be entitled to reasonable adjustments, one of which would be not doing duty for a while on your return. You can also request to be referred or refer yourself to Occupational Health to nail this stuff down . I’ve done this after surgery and after an accident to have clarity about what I could/ couldn’t do.

I haven’t had gall bladder but I needed 4 weeks for keyhole ovarian cyst removal. They said 5 days for most jobs but I taught KS1 at the time and needed those 4 weeks.

I had two weeks off, think 3 is more optimistic ... depends on yoyr age too, I was late 30s.

I am 42 and feeling it at the minute!

I had a hysterectomy and the post-op conversation with the consultant before I was discharged went something like:
C: You’re going to need 4-6 weeks off work. What do you do for a living?
Me: I'm a Teacher.
C: Right, 8 weeks. Don’t argue, you'll need them.

I was in a teaching hospital so he had a gaggle of students with him, who he told, “Nothing you will do as a doctor is anywhere near as hard as being a teacher. Always start with double the time off for anyone else. And make sure you write the note so it doesn’t take up an unnecessary GP appointment.”

Negotiate a phased return as well.

Fellow teacher who had gb out. My discharge note actually said 4 weeks which was 2 weeks longer than I thought it would. In the end I took 3 ( a few issues with constipation and liver function) Going back was fine but I had a risk assessment, eg no duties for a while and didn't have to do open evening.

In hindsight, I should have taken the 4 weeks to properly rest but we all know teacher guilt!

I had mine out a few years ago on the 12th December and was off for 5 weeks. I still felt 'not right' after the first 2 weeks so knew I wasn't ready to go back into the maelstrom of the January term.

Thanks everyone. Because of My role in school, I do A LOT of duties, as in every hour at lesson changeovers, break, lunch, after school bus duty and on calls so I think if I said I couldn't do them it would raise a few eyebrows and people might wonder why I bothered coming back. My actual Teaching hours are less than a typical teacher.

I was back after 3 weeks following a hysterectomy, but didn't do play/lunch duties for another couple of weeks.

If you are SLT - which it sounds like or at least middle management I would have the two weeks then see if you can do a phased return none contact time only (no duties) to begin with.

Can you arrange for phased return and/or return with some reasonable temporary adjustments?

I had surgery at the end of the summer and my consultant at was reluctant to let me return fully in September. I did as I was starting a new role, but spoke to SLT who were able to reduce (and not have any of some) certain duties for me. I was prepared to go to HR if necessary.