Advice please on return to work

[PaulW]

I didn't have surgery but radiation did knock my balance out.
Have a read about the Vestibular Occular Reflex.
Because after surgery this is something you will never fully get back.
When you move your head your brain will now have to think about where your eyes are pointing
This makes anything where you move your head more tiring. Even reading moves your head
So getting up and getting moving will make you feel terrible but will help with the retraining of your brain for the lost balance nerve and will speed up your recovery.
So from my observations. Don't listen to your body, get up get moving and do lots of physical stuff that will challenge your balance system. it's the fastest way to get back to where you were.
I too have my own business and in 2010 about 30 employees. As for returning to work. From my observations it will take some time. Dragging yourself to work for a few hours to bark a few instructions and fill in some knowledge holes, is probably about where you will be. Appearing in court and representing somebody and being on top of your game would in my view be very difficult for quite some time.  Probably the best way to explain it, it's like waking up with a hangover every day... You just can't do as much no matter how much you try. You might be able to fool people for an hour or two but then you need a good lie down.
You will need a lot of assistance at work. I had my manager and PA follow me around. I would speak to customers, they would write it all down and do whatever it was. Speaking was one thing but doing was more difficult. I often got them to do most of my real work. The business didn't grow but it didn't fall apart either...

[ccooper]

You are a few weeks post surgery. How are you feeling? I returned to work after four weeks, probably about 32 hours and pretty quickly ramped up to more than full time (I love my job). But I truly only took about two weeks off before I started peeking at email. Everyone has said it and now you're experiencing it...every case is different I imaging. But what kept me from full performance was facial paralysis just making it a bit hard to talk at times. Not a big deal. I hope you are doing well.

[cherchemt]

Thank you all for your advice and insight.  This coming Tuesday marks four-week post surgery for me.  Recovery has been much harder than I anticipated -- in large part because I was not patient, went off my pain meds too soon, did too much, and ended up back in the hospital with significant nausea and headaches.  It was very hard for me to understand what many of you were telling me about how this recovery might go. I now understand.  I am working very hard on my PT exercises and have been walking a lot.  That said, I am still not driving and have not yet been back to work. I am going to start back tomorrow, but plan to be very part time until I am ready for more. The surgeons had to leave part of the tumor in because it was so attached to the facial nerve.  I have serious facial numbness on the left side (feels like constant novocaine!) and am very tired and dizzy by the end of the day.  On the bright side, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and feel like I am making some good progress towards healing.  To those of you headed toward surgery -- be patient with yourself; listen to your doctors and PT; and recognize this is a big deal and may take some time to recover.  Thanks again to you all!