Re: Time off work???

March 18, 2004

Pardon me, but your boss is an ass. I think if your insurance and

doctors approve a certain amount of time off, your job has to adhere

to that. I'm not really an HR expert but maybe someone else can tell

you what you're legally entitled to regardless of your boss'

preference. In all honesty, you'll probably be OK by 3-4 weeks, but

you might not be comfortable with the swelling that will still be

there, as well as the numbness/drooling that you may not be in

control of at that point. Your energy will depend mostly on how well

you've managed to keep yourself up nutritionally (you'll need a

REALLY long break to get down your " lunch " ) and possibly on how you

react to your medication. Your recovery will depend on many other

factors, but I must say that your age will be a big plus because I

was also 28 at the time of my last surgery. I had both jaws done, it

may be easier with just one. The good news is that if you only have

bottom jaw done congestion shouldn't be much of a problem. Bottom

line is, you really don't have to validate your need for this

surgery to your boss (elective vs. non elective)...find out what

you're entitled to and do what's best for YOU. You may want to say 3

weeks to make him happy but then call in claiming " unforeseen

complications " or tell him that you're having a slower than expected

recovery. Or maybe just come in one day so he can see how cruel it

would be of him to make you stay. Hopefully you'll be feeling great

in 2 weeks and can relax for the 3rd!

orthognathicsurgerysupport , " onefabulousgirl75 "

wrote:

> Hello all-

> I have a Class III open bite. When I had braces in high school

they

> told me that I needed surgery, but my parents' insurance would not

> cover it. Now I have braces as an adult (I'm 28) because my teeth

> moved. I've had them on for 2 1/2 years already. Again the

> orthodontist referred me to an oral surgeon and they recommended

> surgery. I went through the entire referral/consult/insurance

> process. My insurance has approved to pay for the entire

procedure.

>

> When I first talked to my oral surgeon he said I would be out of

> work for 3 weeks. Now I talked to the office nurse and she said I

> would need to go on disability for 6 weeks. My surgery is

scheduled

> for May 7th. I am having my lower jaw moved back only. How long

did

> most of you take off from work? I am sales manager, so my work

> requires me to talk a lot...but not to do anything very strenuous

> physically.

>

> My boss is telling me I need to wait until December or January

when

> business slows down to have the surgery, but then I'll have to

wait

> an extra 8 months. He says this is elective surgery. Why is my

> insurance paying for it if it's elective? I'm tired of my braces

and

> I want to get this done. So, I'd like to know how much time most

of

> you took off from work? Thanks for your responses!

>

March 18, 2004

hi!

I took 4-weeks off work for my upper/lower/genio. I work for a TV

station - and after I got it approved through HR..my boss asked if I

could postpone my surgery till after the Feb " sweeps " period. I said

no. They had to deal with it. (I think many people wrongly assume

this surgery is totally " cosmetic " anyway.)

I think, according to where you work - by law, they can't force you

to postpone medical treatment. But you may have to talk to your HR

department to make sure of that.

Corinne

> > Hello all-

> > I have a Class III open bite. When I had braces in high school

> they

> > told me that I needed surgery, but my parents' insurance would

not

> > cover it. Now I have braces as an adult (I'm 28) because my

teeth

> > moved. I've had them on for 2 1/2 years already. Again the

> > orthodontist referred me to an oral surgeon and they recommended

> > surgery. I went through the entire referral/consult/insurance

> > process. My insurance has approved to pay for the entire

> procedure.

> >

> > When I first talked to my oral surgeon he said I would be out of

> > work for 3 weeks. Now I talked to the office nurse and she said

I

> > would need to go on disability for 6 weeks. My surgery is

> scheduled

> > for May 7th. I am having my lower jaw moved back only. How long

> did

> > most of you take off from work? I am sales manager, so my work

> > requires me to talk a lot...but not to do anything very

strenuous

> > physically.

> >

> > My boss is telling me I need to wait until December or January

> when

> > business slows down to have the surgery, but then I'll have to

> wait

> > an extra 8 months. He says this is elective surgery. Why is my

> > insurance paying for it if it's elective? I'm tired of my braces

> and

> > I want to get this done. So, I'd like to know how much time most

> of

> > you took off from work? Thanks for your responses!

> >

March 19, 2004

Hi there:

I had a class III open bite too - but just had my lower jaw set back

and a genioplasty. Truthfully I needed a full 4 weeks off before I

could work full-time. By week 3 I was working off and on but tired

very easily.

Good luck. Greta

---

> Hello all-

> I have a Class III open bite. When I had braces in high school they

> told me that I needed surgery, but my parents' insurance would not

> cover it. Now I have braces as an adult (I'm 28) because my teeth

> moved. I've had them on for 2 1/2 years already. Again the

> orthodontist referred me to an oral surgeon and they recommended

> surgery. I went through the entire referral/consult/insurance

> process. My insurance has approved to pay for the entire procedure.

>

> When I first talked to my oral surgeon he said I would be out of

> work for 3 weeks. Now I talked to the office nurse and she said I

> would need to go on disability for 6 weeks. My surgery is scheduled

> for May 7th. I am having my lower jaw moved back only. How long did

> most of you take off from work? I am sales manager, so my work

> requires me to talk a lot...but not to do anything very strenuous

> physically.

>

> My boss is telling me I need to wait until December or January when

> business slows down to have the surgery, but then I'll have to wait

> an extra 8 months. He says this is elective surgery. Why is my

> insurance paying for it if it's elective? I'm tired of my braces and

> I want to get this done. So, I'd like to know how much time most of

> you took off from work? Thanks for your responses!

>

March 19, 2004

Hello,

I'm 22 and I took off 2 weeks for extensive upper/lower/genio. I

could talk alright by that time. I work in a University as the

frontline for my office so I see students all day long and didn't have

too much of a problem. Couldn't talk on the phone, of course, but I'm

not complaining: ) Good luck with everything!

March 19, 2004

Hello,

I'm 22 and I took off 2 weeks for extensive upper/lower/genio. I

could talk alright by that time. I work in a University as the

frontline for my office so I see students all day long and didn't have

too much of a problem. Couldn't talk on the phone, of course, but I'm

not complaining: ) Good luck with everything!

March 19, 2004

HR departments are for bosses like that.

Had upper/lower/genio. I took 5 weeks off, insurance company approved

6, surgeon would have approved up to 8, since " that's how long it

takes the bones to heal " .

At 6 weeks, I tried not to talk much at work - you'll find out that

it's very tiring, your facial muscles get very sore, and I started to

slur words, as if I was drunk. I also tried to do some major overtime

in order to meet some critical financial reporting deadlines, and

really found out what stress does to the body - by the end of that

week, I was trembling, weak, mouth was swelling up inside, and I took

3 days off to do absolutely nothing but flop on the couch at home.

But I had an easy and quick initial recovery, it's just that you

don't get full energy back for awhile. And that's good, because it

tells you that you need to take it easy while your body is healing.

I basically told my boss that 3 weeks was average, but that I might

be off longer than that, that I didn't know how I'd fare since I'd

never had major surgery before. I felt like I could come back sooner,

but was glad I didn't. I actually told the nurses the night of my

surgery that I felt great and was ready to go back to work!

But don't go into work until you're ready to go back. You will look

fine on the outside once the major swelling and bruising goes down,

but there's still major healing going on inside, and people don't

understand that. They would if you'd broken your leg, as my assistant

did, the week after I came back to work, and was off for 3 months!.

Good luck,

March 19, 2004

I had my upper and lower done... just over four weeks ago and

initially my surgeon approved me for a month of sick leave but last

week he gave me an extra two weeks off. So I'm schedule to go back in

the beginning of April.

Before my surgery I had everything already... paper work, dealt with

the HR... everything was in order... or at least that's what I

thought. The day after my surgery, the HR department sent a letter to

my surgeon asking if I could come back to work on a modified

position. I work for a major media group and my employers have

been trying to get people to come back from their sickness before

they are ready... as we call it 'the working wounded'. My surgeon

told them that I needed at least a month to heal but that didn't stop

the HR from calling me at home to harass me less than a week after my

surgery. She was leaving messages on my machine asking me to call her

back. At that time I still couldn't talk and it was getting really

frustrating to had to deal with it... so I had a family member call

my union office for me and they quickly dealt with it. It was bad

enough that I had to deal with the stress of just having surgery but

then I had to deal with work harassing me to go back to work before I

was ready as well... That was not fun. But since I had the union deal

with it, the HR have not call me ever since.

March 19, 2004