Surgery date finally landed, early August, and now I've got to tell people at work and I genuinely don't know what number to give them.
Here's my problem. I run a small bakery, it's me and one part-timer, and I'm on my feet from 4am hauling flour sacks, trays, the lot. This is not a sit-down job. Everything I read online says "2 to 4 weeks" but that's clearly written for office people, and I can't tell if I book two weeks and end up wrecked, or book six weeks and lose a month of income I didn't need to. Closing the shop costs me real money every single day.
So I'm asking the people who've actually done it, ideally the ones with physical jobs: how long were you really out? When could you lift things again without it being stupid? And did anyone go back too early and regret it? I'd rather over-book and come back early than the reverse. Bit stressed about this one if I'm honest.
Desk job here so take it with a pinch, but I'll give you my honest timeline. I took two weeks and it was JUST enough for me, and only because I could sit. The thing that catches everyone out isn't the wounds, it's the tiredness. You're on liquids and barely any calories those first couple of weeks, and I was wiped out by lunchtime for a good while. I went back at two weeks and did half days at first. If I'd had your job I'd have wanted a lot longer, no question.
Pete, listen to the woman who went back too early so you don't have to. I do care work, lots of lifting and being on my feet, and I booked three weeks thinking I was being generous. I was not. I went back still knackered, tried to help move someone in week four, felt an awful pulling sensation across my middle and spent the next fortnight terrified I'd done myself a mischief (I hadn't, but the fright was real).
The lifting is the bit people underestimate. It's not the walking that gets you, it's anything heavy, and your flour sacks are exactly the problem. For a job like yours I'd genuinely plan for the longer end and be pleasantly surprised if you beat it, rather than book tight and limp back. The pre-op stuff and the recovery both take more out of you than the brochures let on, it's all in the site's preparing for surgery guide.
Pete, I'll give you the straight framework I wish someone had given me, then the honest caveats, because a bakery is exactly the case the generic "2 to 4 weeks" line fails.
The rough map most teams work to: desk and light work is often doable from about 2 to 4 weeks, but jobs with lifting, hauling, or being on your feet all day usually need 4 to 6 weeks, and sometimes more. The specific bit that decides it for you is the lifting rule: most people are told to avoid anything properly heavy for around 4 to 6 weeks while the abdominal wall heals, because that's where the keyhole work was done. Flour sacks and stacked trays sit squarely on the wrong side of that line, so your return date is really governed by when you can lift safely, not when you feel awake. There's a fuller week-by-week picture in the site's recovery guide, and the honest headline is that the fatigue in weeks one and two is the real ambush, not pain.
Now the conditions, because I promised honesty and this is where individual reality bites. That timeline assumes keyhole surgery and a smooth recovery. If there's a complication, or if the surgery ends up open rather than laparoscopic, everything stretches out and the lifting ban gets longer. Being self-employed with no sick pay changes the maths too: some people in your position arrange lighter cover for weeks four to six so they can be present without hauling, rather than either fully open or fully closed. What I would not do is book two weeks and plan to power through the lifting, that's Donna's story and it's a miserable way to learn the rule. My own steer, and it's a steer not a prescription: for a physical single-hander, plan for the six-week end, line up help or reduced hours for the back half, and treat coming back sooner as a bonus. The one number that actually matters, though, is the one your own surgical team gives you at your final appointment, because they know your operation and your body. Ask them the lifting question directly and in writing.
Warehouse-ish job here, lots of lifting, and I'll back Claire completely. I took four weeks, went back on "light duties only" that I'd agreed beforehand, and dodged the heavy stuff for another fortnight on top. That agreement was the smartest thing I did, because "light duties" in writing meant nobody could guilt me into grabbing a heavy box in week five. The fatigue really is the sneaky part, I felt fine walking around and then hit a wall every afternoon for the first month.
This is exactly what I needed, thank you all. New plan: I'm booking six weeks off properly, and I've asked my part-timer if she'll take extra hours for weeks five and six so the shop can open with me there doing the tills and the light bits and NOT the flour sacks. Costs me more than I hoped but a lot less than doing a Donna and pulling something in week four. I'll take the lifting question to my final appointment in writing like Claire said. Feeling a lot less stressed about it now, genuinely.
