Working and changing jobs during treatment

Marynb

Jo Joy said:

I am grateful for the spiritual support and for your honesty
I will add you to my own and my church's prayer list. Many people in many languages and all over the world will be lifting up prayers for us! At church I was finally able to overcome my mind about this whole thing on Sunday. My pastor and my closest friends on this earth are amazing! And my God is so in control in the timing of this process even when I don't think it will work out. Right now I am sitting in the healing chemo chair getting all the fluids and anti nausea on board before the Mito and getting the 5FU pump for the weekend. I have an amazing peace and love surrounding me.

I got the final offer from the new job this week since the background check is complete. I have made a meeting time with them on Tuesday to tell them about the treatment and the timing of everything. I will give notice to my present job after that meeting. I would appreciate prayers for both meetings to go well and be stress free. Right now I'm just believing that the final week, and the week after treatment ends, will be the time in between jobs. What was meant to harm will not come near me. I will live to declare the works of the Lord.

Joy
My thoughts and prayers are with you today as you begin your journey to wellness. Also, hoping that your meetings are stress free. With
God's grace, soon you will be over this hurdle and move forward to your wonderful future! I hope that you have a restful weekend.

sandysp

Jo Joy said:

Just Yesterday...
I woke up yesterday morning and knew clearly that I have to tell my new employer about the treatment and the timing. If I want to have integrity, I need to do this. It just feels right. He might delay it a week more or so if he knows this information. I have to start by the last week of December because benefit plan changes for new hires the first of January. Besides if I am not upfront about this, and my new boss finds out, he will always wonder what else I might be hiding. Employees at this place are there for a long, long time. There is rarely any turnover, even in the lower positions, because it is such a great place to work. When I was interviewing they wanted to know how long I was planning on being there. I am young considering the average age for this type of cancer) – 47 -– and I told them that I fully planned to be there for at least 15 years. Really. No kidding.

My plan for life during treatment is to get up, go to work, come home and do some light exercise as long as I am able, eat well, being proactive with dealing with side effects of treatment, be socially active and enjoy outings as long as I can and when I start to feel the cumulative effects of treatment: go to bed shortly after I eat dinner which is around 8 PM. I have a grocery store that is a 3 minute drive from home that has lots of high calorie, healthy, protein filled, freshly made, (It is called Fresh & Easy) meals that I am going to be utilizing. I have an amazing support system surrounding me with friends that are already helping me with chores to prepare.

I do have a new question today for the community: I went in yesterday to have my PICC line inserted and also to do my radiation planning. So…the Dr tried to get the PICC in my arm but apparently my veins in my upper arms are tiny (that didn’t stop him from trying to fish around in my arm to find one – ouch!) So I ended up with a tunneled subclavian central line that has 2 access ports in my chest. It is covered with a tegaderm but it doesn’t look like it is waterproof. Does anybody know how to protect this thing when you shower? I had gotten the instructions for the PICC line in the arm before anything was attempted, but because I was already late for my radiation planning session after insertion I didn’t receive post op care instructions for it and I didn’t think to ask. I am getting it flushed and the dressings changed at the chemo oncologist office on Friday, but want to shower before that time! )

Oh! I did get some good news yesterday. My radiation oncologist is scheduling me for 25 radiation treatments not 30 and the insurance company has already approved it! Yay!

Thanks everyone!

You sound good
I believe you are on the right track. I totally agree with Angela. I don't feel anything like what I felt like before treatment. It's a little scary. I have had a lot of fatigue and the process of all the testing after the treatment is complete and the weekly checkups during treatment - well it's all very time consuming and draining to deal the way we need to deal with this disease. I have yet to return to my sales position and but so far have kept my singing and children's choir director's job. I almost quit when I lost my voice from the Pertussis. It is back now but my energy is not what it was.

I have had to accept a new me. I am listening for God way more now instead of directing my life like I used to. Some day it may be enough that you got the job. But right now, focus on getting better as your first priority. You can't miss your treatments.

I don't know what stage your cancer is. I found out I received a larger dose of radiation than was then protocol since I had three lymph nodes affected. (I got some of my records). I really didn't know this during the treatment and am glad I didn't. My tests are clear now. NED. That's the most important thing: NED.

All the best,
Sandy

Jo Joy

sandysp said:

You sound good
I believe you are on the right track. I totally agree with Angela. I don't feel anything like what I felt like before treatment. It's a little scary. I have had a lot of fatigue and the process of all the testing after the treatment is complete and the weekly checkups during treatment - well it's all very time consuming and draining to deal the way we need to deal with this disease. I have yet to return to my sales position and but so far have kept my singing and children's choir director's job. I almost quit when I lost my voice from the Pertussis. It is back now but my energy is not what it was.

I have had to accept a new me. I am listening for God way more now instead of directing my life like I used to. Some day it may be enough that you got the job. But right now, focus on getting better as your first priority. You can't miss your treatments.

I don't know what stage your cancer is. I found out I received a larger dose of radiation than was then protocol since I had three lymph nodes affected. (I got some of my records). I really didn't know this during the treatment and am glad I didn't. My tests are clear now. NED. That's the most important thing: NED.

All the best,
Sandy

What is currently happening
I gave notice at my job this week. Dec 13 is my last official day. My boss is sad to see me go. He has only been my boss for a short since he was promoted a few months ago. We had been peers - department directors - for 3 years prior to that so we had friendship prior to him being my boss. The great thing is he has been in action and already has a contract interim CFO that will be working part time with me after Thanksgiving til I leave. Next Sunday 5 girlfriends of mine are going to help me pack and move out of my office. I wanted to do it now in case I wasn't up to it later.

I also told my new boss at the new job about my diagnosis and the timing of all of it this past week. He has delayed my tentative start date by a week. I told him that if I was up to it I would informally go and visit with the current CFO (she is a friend of mine) for a few hours and glean the informal and historical background of the job beforehand. He also said that if I only felt like working a reduced schedule at first that it would ok. They have had others that have dealt with this. I am also starting with 2 weeks of sick leave and 3 weeks of vacation on day one. They weren't able to give me the exact salary I requested but offered that as a compromise.

Chemo was pretty symptom free. I had some nausea at the disconnect but am contributing that to the nurse pushing the heparin to clear the line too fast. I have had 3 out of 25 radiation treatments at 180 ? each. I have been keeping on top of the skin care and taking L-glutamine for the radiation. My lymph nodes were not involved and the tumor itself was 1.5 cm. The thing that the docs and I don't know is how deep into the muscle it might have been. The only side effects I seem to have is horrible constipation. I am taking laxatives but it is hard to get anything to move. My appetite is still great and I haven't altered my diet much except no caffeine and no or very little alcohol. Also food doesn't taste as good as it used to. I am also sleeping and resting a lot on the weekends. Hours of sleep. I have Fridays off since I work 10 hour days. If I don't have energy to do anything then I rest. Today I have had lots of energy and was able to do laundry.

So now you are all caught up! Thanks for all the encouragement and info that all of you have given me here.

Marynb

Jo Joy said:

What is currently happening
I gave notice at my job this week. Dec 13 is my last official day. My boss is sad to see me go. He has only been my boss for a short since he was promoted a few months ago. We had been peers - department directors - for 3 years prior to that so we had friendship prior to him being my boss. The great thing is he has been in action and already has a contract interim CFO that will be working part time with me after Thanksgiving til I leave. Next Sunday 5 girlfriends of mine are going to help me pack and move out of my office. I wanted to do it now in case I wasn't up to it later.

I also told my new boss at the new job about my diagnosis and the timing of all of it this past week. He has delayed my tentative start date by a week. I told him that if I was up to it I would informally go and visit with the current CFO (she is a friend of mine) for a few hours and glean the informal and historical background of the job beforehand. He also said that if I only felt like working a reduced schedule at first that it would ok. They have had others that have dealt with this. I am also starting with 2 weeks of sick leave and 3 weeks of vacation on day one. They weren't able to give me the exact salary I requested but offered that as a compromise.

Chemo was pretty symptom free. I had some nausea at the disconnect but am contributing that to the nurse pushing the heparin to clear the line too fast. I have had 3 out of 25 radiation treatments at 180 ? each. I have been keeping on top of the skin care and taking L-glutamine for the radiation. My lymph nodes were not involved and the tumor itself was 1.5 cm. The thing that the docs and I don't know is how deep into the muscle it might have been. The only side effects I seem to have is horrible constipation. I am taking laxatives but it is hard to get anything to move. My appetite is still great and I haven't altered my diet much except no caffeine and no or very little alcohol. Also food doesn't taste as good as it used to. I am also sleeping and resting a lot on the weekends. Hours of sleep. I have Fridays off since I work 10 hour days. If I don't have energy to do anything then I rest. Today I have had lots of energy and was able to do laundry.

So now you are all caught up! Thanks for all the encouragement and info that all of you have given me here.

Jo Joy
I am so glad that you are doing well and that everything is falling into place with the jobs! Your positive attitude will get you through this. I never experienced any constipation so no advice on that.

You are in my prayers as you work towards a cure!

luettacook

I think you should ask them

I think you should ask them if you can work from home.