{"id":309,"date":"2008-01-23T23:45:04","date_gmt":"2008-01-24T04:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2008\/01\/23\/true-or-false-i-lost-my-job-because-of-heart-valve-surgery\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T19:04:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T00:04:48","slug":"true-or-false-i-lost-my-job-because-of-heart-valve-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2008\/01\/23\/true-or-false-i-lost-my-job-because-of-heart-valve-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"True or False: I Lost My Job Because Of Heart Valve Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I received an email from Janice, a very concerned caregiver and mother. Janice’s daughter is preparing for heart valve surgery. In her email, Janice noted that her daughter is planning on returning to work just 3-4 weeks after surgery. She also noted that her daughter is nervous that she might lose her job because of the medical leave-of-absence.<\/p>\n

I wasted no time in immediately responding to Janice for several reasons:<\/p>\n

First, I have been through double heart valve replacement. That said, I know that the recovery from cardiac surgery should not and can not be rushed. Healing is a very personal and individual process.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/div>\n

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Second, I have done a significant amount of research on the average time it takes patients to return to work following heart valve surgery. As you can see on the chart above, the average time required to return to work is 7-10 weeks after cardiac surgery, with some patients taking 15 weeks or more. I’m an optimist and I truly believe anything is possible. But, my survey results suggests that only 7% of patients undergoing a surgical heart valve repair or replacement return to work in three weeks or less.\u00a0 That said, there are unique stories of patients, like Leila Saeid<\/a>, who returned to her job as a dentist just seven days after robotic mitral valve surgery.<\/a><\/p>\n

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