Time off work!

backachedp

Time off Work
My Husband Bob had Surgery Oct 15 2009 he has yet to return to work. He was told possibly 4 more month's before he can go back. I signed him up for SSD in Oct so we were prepared for the 6 month waiting period. He is now on LTD and still gets SSD. His job terminated him, but he went in a week or 2 ago and they said he can come back..I would hope so after 30 years. He will probably not be a Welder anymore, but they will give him a job within the Company. He finished treatment's in Jan had PET Scan in March and 3 hot spot's showed up and he had Surgery to remove 2 masses in his Chest and part of his tougne they cut it all out May 17th 2010...May 21st we got the call we were waiting for ALL CLEAR! He is having a hard time eating and he tires very easily, but he is getting better everyday. If you rush back to work it may set you back. I am glad Bob's Dr's are being causious with him and are not making him go back until he is 100%...if he ever will be we do not know..nobody will ever really be 100%..but as good as possible. Like it's been said on this board the new norm...we still don't know what that will be. Best of luck to you and everyone here. Thank you all for the support you all gave me and Bob when we did not know anything. This is the most compasionate bunch of people I have ever encountered.
Thank you all again...
I'll stay in touch.

Deb

staceya

Kent Cass said:

3-month
I started a thread not too long ago on this subject. The only logic I can find is:
1) to establish "a baseline," which may be BS, to compare with later tests

2) to make sure the C has not spread elsewhere- other than the area(s) where the rads were applied. Once we're stage-4, perhaps such as this is possible.

Stacey- no need to worry. Trust me. Too soon for anything to show that's anything more than a false-positive, at least in the area of treatment. My 2 1/2-month PS/CT "may have shown" something, and my ENT was so concerned about it that he scheduled my next PS/CT for 8-months later, which came back CLEAN. You got nothing to worry about, Stacey, other than your Drs. wanting to do a biopsy on something that is NOT C- that is what we, here, are learning. If, going forward, such as this goes down- I urge you to tell your Dr. about us, and the history of 3-months we are living- IT IS TOO DANGED SOON FOR ANYTHING TO SHOW THAT CAN BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AS POTENTIAL C. And, if your Dr. says it is not, then I would urge you to ask him how in the Sam Hill he/she coulda missed what supposedly shows with the tests. No, Stacey, it is too soon, and you got nothing to worry about. The 3-month is a breeze that shouldn't happen. I'm a 1-year PS/CT vet, now, and all is still Clean. So it will be with you.

Believe

kcass

Thanks Everyone!!
Thanks Kent!

delnative

backachedp said:

Time off Work
My Husband Bob had Surgery Oct 15 2009 he has yet to return to work. He was told possibly 4 more month's before he can go back. I signed him up for SSD in Oct so we were prepared for the 6 month waiting period. He is now on LTD and still gets SSD. His job terminated him, but he went in a week or 2 ago and they said he can come back..I would hope so after 30 years. He will probably not be a Welder anymore, but they will give him a job within the Company. He finished treatment's in Jan had PET Scan in March and 3 hot spot's showed up and he had Surgery to remove 2 masses in his Chest and part of his tougne they cut it all out May 17th 2010...May 21st we got the call we were waiting for ALL CLEAR! He is having a hard time eating and he tires very easily, but he is getting better everyday. If you rush back to work it may set you back. I am glad Bob's Dr's are being causious with him and are not making him go back until he is 100%...if he ever will be we do not know..nobody will ever really be 100%..but as good as possible. Like it's been said on this board the new norm...we still don't know what that will be. Best of luck to you and everyone here. Thank you all for the support you all gave me and Bob when we did not know anything. This is the most compasionate bunch of people I have ever encountered.
Thank you all again...
I'll stay in touch.

Deb

I was off for six months
I went to the ER in late June 2008 with a bleeding throat, and was told it almost certainly was cancer. I had surgery and went out on disability that very week. I was out until December, even though my rads and chemo didn't begin until August and ended Oct. 5.

--Jim in Delaware

Unknown

delnative said:

I was off for six months
I went to the ER in late June 2008 with a bleeding throat, and was told it almost certainly was cancer. I had surgery and went out on disability that very week. I was out until December, even though my rads and chemo didn't begin until August and ended Oct. 5.

--Jim in Delaware

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Skiffin16

unknown said:

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Permissions
Graci, I think it all depends on the circumstances concerning working during treatment. My employer gave me a lot of latitude. It was made very easy for me and something additional that I didn't need to be concerned with. My boss actually told me that my health comes first. Even with that I did put in for the FMLA (at their advise) just to cover myself. It's for something like 12 weeks, but it's also a rolling time period.

I had 1200 hours of sick time available for times that I just needed to use it. But after the intial tonsilectomy I didn't use more than a day or so here and there.

My doctors gave me the OK to work as I felt up to it (no paperwork involved stating I could or could not work). If I felt fine I could work as much as I liked. That was the same approach my employer took as well. When my treatment was over and I decided to come back into the office (part-time at first) still working the remainder of hours at home I made the transition, no problems for MD's or employer. Same with the time when I decided to come back full time. My employer actually told me that if I needed to work a day or two from home still just to do it whenever I needed to.

When I completed all of the treatemtns and after coming back (after nine months). I still stayed on FMLA until the end of the year just to cover myself with different appointments and such. The FMLA is not a standard stagnant time frame, it rolls while you are on it, and you can be on it and still work either part time or full time. The days that I had appointments or needed to use sick time cancer related (sick or appointments) I would let them know and they would list those instances under FMLA time.

Best,
John

sweetblood22

Skiffin16 said:

Permissions
Graci, I think it all depends on the circumstances concerning working during treatment. My employer gave me a lot of latitude. It was made very easy for me and something additional that I didn't need to be concerned with. My boss actually told me that my health comes first. Even with that I did put in for the FMLA (at their advise) just to cover myself. It's for something like 12 weeks, but it's also a rolling time period.

I had 1200 hours of sick time available for times that I just needed to use it. But after the intial tonsilectomy I didn't use more than a day or so here and there.

My doctors gave me the OK to work as I felt up to it (no paperwork involved stating I could or could not work). If I felt fine I could work as much as I liked. That was the same approach my employer took as well. When my treatment was over and I decided to come back into the office (part-time at first) still working the remainder of hours at home I made the transition, no problems for MD's or employer. Same with the time when I decided to come back full time. My employer actually told me that if I needed to work a day or two from home still just to do it whenever I needed to.

When I completed all of the treatemtns and after coming back (after nine months). I still stayed on FMLA until the end of the year just to cover myself with different appointments and such. The FMLA is not a standard stagnant time frame, it rolls while you are on it, and you can be on it and still work either part time or full time. The days that I had appointments or needed to use sick time cancer related (sick or appointments) I would let them know and they would list those instances under FMLA time.

Best,
John

Still not working
I really thought when I was diagnosed that I would be back to work in a couple months or so. Had my modified radical neck dissection in January of 2009. It really knocked me back more than I thought it would. I had to really work on my left arm to get it to function almost back to normal but still not strong. My job as a shoe store manager was extremely physical working 13 hr days and never sitting down. I had to work a minimum of 48 hrs a week. There was no way I could do that after my neck dissection or thru radiation. Also had to work every Friday, Saturday, and Monday at least 8 hrs per day, and had to close the store and work till 9:30pm three times per week. So I took unpaid FMLA leave. When that ran out I thank God had paid for disability insurance so I got that. Then after a year my disability company talked me into filing for Disability which they approved me for right away, really.

I am still not strong enough to work. I don't know how you guys do it. My neck has very limited range of motion and hurts on a daily basis. No way I could do my old job or work those hrs. Still can't eat normally and rely on my PEG. I stopped my treatment over a year ago. 5-15-09 was the last one. I don't know if also having Fanconi Anemia has comprimised my heeling or what. All I know is I went from being a work-a-holic maniac to being knocked on my keister and down for the count.

It's weird when you spent your life working double shifts, and any where from 48 to 65 or more hrs a week to being tired walking to the mailbox every day. But it is what it is.

Hope this posts. Been trying to get on here all week and can't. I am sure it's my wireless.

sweetblood22

Skiffin16 said:

Permissions
Graci, I think it all depends on the circumstances concerning working during treatment. My employer gave me a lot of latitude. It was made very easy for me and something additional that I didn't need to be concerned with. My boss actually told me that my health comes first. Even with that I did put in for the FMLA (at their advise) just to cover myself. It's for something like 12 weeks, but it's also a rolling time period.

I had 1200 hours of sick time available for times that I just needed to use it. But after the intial tonsilectomy I didn't use more than a day or so here and there.

My doctors gave me the OK to work as I felt up to it (no paperwork involved stating I could or could not work). If I felt fine I could work as much as I liked. That was the same approach my employer took as well. When my treatment was over and I decided to come back into the office (part-time at first) still working the remainder of hours at home I made the transition, no problems for MD's or employer. Same with the time when I decided to come back full time. My employer actually told me that if I needed to work a day or two from home still just to do it whenever I needed to.

When I completed all of the treatemtns and after coming back (after nine months). I still stayed on FMLA until the end of the year just to cover myself with different appointments and such. The FMLA is not a standard stagnant time frame, it rolls while you are on it, and you can be on it and still work either part time or full time. The days that I had appointments or needed to use sick time cancer related (sick or appointments) I would let them know and they would list those instances under FMLA time.

Best,
John

Still not working
I really thought when I was diagnosed that I would be back to work in a couple months or so. Had my modified radical neck dissection in January of 2009. It really knocked me back more than I thought it would. I had to really work on my left arm to get it to function almost back to normal but still not strong. My job as a shoe store manager was extremely physical working 13 hr days and never sitting down. I had to work a minimum of 48 hrs a week. There was no way I could do that after my neck dissection or thru radiation. Also had to work every Friday, Saturday, and Monday at least 8 hrs per day, and had to close the store and work till 9:30pm three times per week. So I took unpaid FMLA leave. When that ran out I thank God had paid for disability insurance so I got that. Then after a year my disability company talked me into filing for Disability which they approved me for right away, really.

I am still not strong enough to work. I don't know how you guys do it. My neck has very limited range of motion and hurts on a daily basis. No way I could do my old job or work those hrs. Still can't eat normally and rely on my PEG. I stopped my treatment over a year ago. 5-15-09 was the last one. I don't know if also having Fanconi Anemia has comprimised my heeling or what. All I know is I went from being a work-a-holic maniac to being knocked on my keister and down for the count.

It's weird when you spent your life working double shifts, and any where from 48 to 65 or more hrs a week to being tired walking to the mailbox every day. But it is what it is.

Hope this posts. Been trying to get on here all week and can't. I am sure it's my wireless.

wifeforlife

sweetblood22 said:

Still not working
I really thought when I was diagnosed that I would be back to work in a couple months or so. Had my modified radical neck dissection in January of 2009. It really knocked me back more than I thought it would. I had to really work on my left arm to get it to function almost back to normal but still not strong. My job as a shoe store manager was extremely physical working 13 hr days and never sitting down. I had to work a minimum of 48 hrs a week. There was no way I could do that after my neck dissection or thru radiation. Also had to work every Friday, Saturday, and Monday at least 8 hrs per day, and had to close the store and work till 9:30pm three times per week. So I took unpaid FMLA leave. When that ran out I thank God had paid for disability insurance so I got that. Then after a year my disability company talked me into filing for Disability which they approved me for right away, really.

I am still not strong enough to work. I don't know how you guys do it. My neck has very limited range of motion and hurts on a daily basis. No way I could do my old job or work those hrs. Still can't eat normally and rely on my PEG. I stopped my treatment over a year ago. 5-15-09 was the last one. I don't know if also having Fanconi Anemia has comprimised my heeling or what. All I know is I went from being a work-a-holic maniac to being knocked on my keister and down for the count.

It's weird when you spent your life working double shifts, and any where from 48 to 65 or more hrs a week to being tired walking to the mailbox every day. But it is what it is.

Hope this posts. Been trying to get on here all week and can't. I am sure it's my wireless.

90 days
Short term disability 90 days plus 2 wks vacation time... started back couldn't make full days.. but it was really good for him to have something to focus on. He is working full time now still gets tired but is doing very well.

Jimbo55

wifeforlife said:

90 days
Short term disability 90 days plus 2 wks vacation time... started back couldn't make full days.. but it was really good for him to have something to focus on. He is working full time now still gets tired but is doing very well.

off of work
My situation is probably a little different than most. I am about 1/2 way thru treatment (7wks rads / 3x chemo) and am still feeling pretty good, relatively speaking that is. I would have worked part time these past 3-4 weeks except for the fact that I am being treated in Bangkok, Thailand and work next door in Cambodia. I work in golf course construction/maintenance and have been in Cambodia for the past 7 years, first as the Project Manager for the golf course construction and now as the GC Super maintaining the course. It's a great job and I love it. I am still quite involved by email setting schedules and such, and this past weekend we flew back to Siem Reap for a few days to check on the golf course and our dog (we are unable to bring him to Bangkok with us). Nothing strenuous mind you, I rode around on the golf cart for a few hours with my dog Bucko sitting on the seat next to me. If I'm still feeling decent, I might make a return trip in a few weeks, we'll see.

The owners I work for are really great people and have told me to take as much time off as I need to get healthy again. Other than this frickin cancer, I really don't have much to complain about.

chris731

Time Off
I took about 5 months off. Where I work we have FMLA and disability. So I took FMLA, then when that ran out, I went on short term disability through work, not SS. But I was working from home placeing orders for my company during those 5 months and still doing my job from home. I work for a great group of people.

SASH

chris731 said:

Time Off
I took about 5 months off. Where I work we have FMLA and disability. So I took FMLA, then when that ran out, I went on short term disability through work, not SS. But I was working from home placeing orders for my company during those 5 months and still doing my job from home. I work for a great group of people.

Time off
I was off from Oct through the middle of July.

Luckily I worked for our family business so I didn't have to fear being fired. If my dad fired me, my mom would have killed him.