By the way - I was down about 6 weeks after my thymectomy............Hope this helps!

6 weeks? Care to elaborate? BRQQK75 made it sould like a walk in the park and you are saying its a nightmare....

-J

The difference is in how the thymectomy was done. BRQQK75's daughter had it done via the small incisions under the ribs - very non-invasive. People with a 6 week down time had their sternum's split so the surgeon could directly view the thymus and remove it entirely. Size of the thymus, any masses on it etc all go into the surgeon's decisions for approach. http://www.umm.edu/mg/surgery.htm

hth

Brian.

My 8 year old just had a transternal thymectomy on December 9th. Her symptoms are primarily ocular, and of course being a kid she can bounce back a whole lot faster than the grownups do...!

She had surgery on a Tuesday, was out of the hospital by Friday, and cleared to go back to school on Monday (6 days post op!). We waited another week to send her because I was afraid she could get bumped. Her energy level was such that she probably would have been okay. She can't lift over 5 lbs. for 2 months, and no gym for a month. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since the surgery and her scar is healing nicely (scab is all gone). Right now her ocular symptoms look WORSE than they did--something I've read can happen soon after surgery. I'm hoping that gets better soon, because she's basically functioning with one eye right now due to the diplopia and ptosis.

During surgery they gave her an epidural in her upper back, plus morphine and a few other pain meds. By the day we left, she was on motrin only. She is my hero...not sure I could have done so well!

Pat in upstate NY