How has treatment for Breast Cancer impacted your job?

tjohnson2310

How has treatment for Breast Cancer impacted your job?

AMomNETN

Impact
It has impacted my job that I have to take more time off than I thought I would. I'm half way through chemo and I'm usually off 2-3 days after treatment. I am lucky that my bosses have been understanding. I teach but I feel like if I'm not there things will fall apart. That has been the hardest part for me. I just take it one day at a time and do what I can do and leave the rest. The hardest part of all this it to think of me first. As women we are used to being the caregivers and doing everything for everyone else but ourselves. Tho hard I'm learning to think of me first. I hope this helps.

Boppy_of_6

Hello
I have had 2 of 4 treatments of CT I have not missed any time yet. I do childcare so I stay busy ). The only days I have missed have been the treatment days which luckily fall on Fridays. Just take care of yourself and drink lots of water!! God Bless
(((Hugs))) Janice

greyhoundluvr

T -
I have been very fortunate thus far. I work for a large corporation and my Director is located in another state. Before BC, I was one of those folks who typically put work first in search of that elusive job security that pays the bills. It took me about a month after my bilateral mastectomy to tell my boss what was actually going on but I felt like she needed to know since this was going to be a longer path than I initially thought. In all honesty, she has been a blessing. She gave me the lecture about not having to do everything myself and to delegate where needed, she has let me work from home which saves me the time and energy to get ready and commute every day, she calls to check and tells me to work when I feel like it and if I need to take a nap, to take one. She is letting me work around my chemo and has indicated she is OK with me doing the same for radiaton. I do everything I can to make sure that I get the job done and don't take advantage of her generosity. My concession to myself has been that I do take the Monday off after I have chemo on Friday just because it is my worst day and I don't have to stress over taking TWO naps or not answering my phone. Since my job is mostly being on the computer and the phone, I know there are a lot of women out there who have had to deal with this through tougher jobs than mine and I certainly admire their strength and fortitude......

Chris

mariam_11_09

I have just completed 4 AC

I have just completed 4 AC (3 weeks apart) and am getting ready for 12 weeks of Taxol once a week. The only days I took off were the treatment days which were a Friday. However the week following chemo I worked at home every day. Can't say I was very effective but I did get work done. Then the two weeks following I only went into the office 2 days a week and sometimes only half a day and then worked the other half from home. It hasn't been easy but I take it one day at a time.

Since I had a pretty strong reaction to the AC, I am going to see how I respond to the taxol and then decide if I need to take STD for a month or so. So far I plan only to take treatment day off. My boss and her boss have been very understanding.

New Flower

mariam_11_09 said:

I have just completed 4 AC

I have just completed 4 AC (3 weeks apart) and am getting ready for 12 weeks of Taxol once a week. The only days I took off were the treatment days which were a Friday. However the week following chemo I worked at home every day. Can't say I was very effective but I did get work done. Then the two weeks following I only went into the office 2 days a week and sometimes only half a day and then worked the other half from home. It hasn't been easy but I take it one day at a time.

Since I had a pretty strong reaction to the AC, I am going to see how I respond to the taxol and then decide if I need to take STD for a month or so. So far I plan only to take treatment day off. My boss and her boss have been very understanding.

I was taking time off
I was on sick leave and short term disability from my employer (100% of my salary). I lost my job in the middle of the treatment and decided on not filing a lawsuit against my former employer. The nature of my job prohibit me from working during Chemo (compromise immune system) and my boss did not want me to work from home.iTo me treatment was my major priority and I do not have regrets about my decisions.

Surgery definitely required time off. I had mastectomy with DIEP which has standard 5 days in the hospital and recovery time for 8 weeks.

Good Luck,
New Flower

GregStahl

My wife
works for a hospital and they are self insured. She is just starting this fight, but in the past she has seen people in her dept get released while they were under treatment of problems.
So we are somewhat nervous.

Christine Louise

Fuzzy brain
I do my self-employed husband's paperwork and billing from home. Since being in chemo, (just finished Monday), I've made many mistakes that I would not have made before. My memory has gotten bad, too. I'm trying to compensate by making more notes and double-checking everything. Chemo didn't make me physically ill, but chemo brain and sleep disturbance are a problem. I hope for improvement now that I'm done with chemo and I hope Tamoxifen doesn't have the same mental effects.

Chrispea

Christine Louise said:

Fuzzy brain
I do my self-employed husband's paperwork and billing from home. Since being in chemo, (just finished Monday), I've made many mistakes that I would not have made before. My memory has gotten bad, too. I'm trying to compensate by making more notes and double-checking everything. Chemo didn't make me physically ill, but chemo brain and sleep disturbance are a problem. I hope for improvement now that I'm done with chemo and I hope Tamoxifen doesn't have the same mental effects.

Christine, you will feel
Christine, you will feel better soon. I finished up chemo March 3. I still have chemo brain moments, but not as often. It's so nice to have energy again!

I too, am self employed. There were days that I had to stay in bed. I was lucky that it happened during our slow period, which is right around December - Feb. I was still doing chemo in Feb/Mar, but they gave me steroids which helped a lot, and I got around much better.