Heath:
I had CI surgery in November 2009 and was out and about like normal within a day or two. It was a day procedure where I was in the actual OR for about 3.5 hours. I stayed overnight in hospital and went home the following morning. I had some minor balance problems for a few days afterward ( a totally normal and expected after-effect), where I felt a bit unsteady on my feet, especially when getting up from a chair or going out for a walk.
I stayed home from work for almost 2 weeks while my incision healed, but would have been ready to go back after one week had it been necessary. There was some dull pain around the side of my head that did linger for a couple of weeks, but it was nothing that interfered with my regular activities. I was given a prescription for pain killers (Tylenol 3 with Codeine) which I took for the first few days of my recovery, primarily at night just before going to bed. I stopped taking them within a week as I found the pain was not that bad and I didn't really need them.
Probably the biggest inconvenience of the surgery itself was not being able to wash my hair for about week. I know photos and videos of the procedure aren't too pretty. Maybe I was a bit lucky in that my healing went very well and I didn't develop any infections or one of the other complications that apparently can develop.
Here it is 3 months later, and so far so good. Aside from the bump on my head, physically I'm feeling the same as before. Hey - I had a bypass surgery just about 2 years ago and believe me when I say that compared to that, the CI surgery was like a walk in the park.
