chemo and working

Saltylibrarian
Saltylibrarian Member Posts: 12
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I am starting Chemo on Friday and I'm scared/nervous but ready to take this on and be cured..I hope!

Anyway, every three weeks I will be starting Carboplatin, Taxotere, and Herceptin. Weeks 2 and 3 I will just be getting the Hercepton. Is it rediculous to think I can work during this? I am getting infusions on Friday and hope to return by Tuesday.

I appreciate any thoughts out there! Thank you!!!!!

xo to all of you.

Comments

  • rrogers34
    rrogers34 Member Posts: 135
    #2
    On same cocktail
    Hi, I'm on the exact same schedule. I have had one treatment which was on january 8th. I was weak, however, I believe most of that was from the process from diagnosis, surgery, port, then chemo. I did fine. The only problem I had was constipation. The nausea meds worked great. I get a nuelasta shot the day after my "big treatment" (Carbopatin, taxotere & herceptin). I am achy from that. Drink Lots and Lots of water, gatorade. I am now noticing some heartburn, I take malox for that. My toungue gets sore when I brush by teeth, so I got the Betatine mouthwash which works well. I went back to work last week. Day one was horrible, mostly because of"everything", not just the chemo. I am currently working about 5 to 6 hours a day. My energy is coming back. I feel better being active when I can. Eat the right foods and listen to your body. I had my one herceptin infusion last week and did fine. I have my next one wed. The week after I will have another "big treatment". If it goes as well as this one did I will be doing good. They say how you react to the first one will give you a pretty good idea of how you will react. I hope yours goes as well as mine. I hope this helps. By the way, I had my hair clipper cut so i wouldnt go through the dramatic loss of hair. My hair is still growing. LOL. I dont know how long that will last. I expect to loose it on the next treatment. God Bless and let me know how you are doing.
  • Lynda53
    Lynda53 Member Posts: 210
    #3
    I started in Oct, tax and cytoxin every 3 weeks
    aromasin daily, I am still working. I get chemo on Thursdays, wiped for the weekend.
    Good luck.
    Peace
  • Megan M
    Megan M Member Posts: 3,000
    #4
    Lynda53 said:

    I started in Oct, tax and cytoxin every 3 weeks
    aromasin daily, I am still working. I get chemo on Thursdays, wiped for the weekend.
    Good luck.
    Peace

    I didn't have chemo, but,
    I didn't have chemo, but, wanted to wish you good luck!

    Megan
  • tommaseena
    tommaseena Member Posts: 1,769
    #5
    Megan M said:

    I didn't have chemo, but,
    I didn't have chemo, but, wanted to wish you good luck!

    Megan

    I worked
    I worked during my treatment. I had A/C every other week for for treatment and then Taxol w/Herceptin once a week for 12 treatments and now on Herceptin once every three weeks. I only take time off to have my treatments which I schedule for 9 am and then go back to work after. I sometimes got tired in the afternoon but would work through it and then slept through the night.

    Best of luck returning to work.

    Margo
  • padee6339
    padee6339 Member Posts: 763
    #6
    I worked
    I had taxotere/carboplaten every third Friday for 6 treatments. I'd go in around 9 or 10 am, and be done by noon. We'd go to IHOP for a late breakfast then I'd go home and sleep most of the weekend. With the nausea meds she was giving me, I was ok to work by Monday. I was always tired and at times would just hit the wall and have to stay home. At times it was hard to get up and go to work when it was freezing outside and the wigs never really kept my head warm. But I have an understanding boss who didn't mind if I was late or needed to leave early. I hope you have a boss like mine. He made me want to come in and never got ticked off if I called in.
    Hugs - Pat
  • Mama G
    Mama G Member Posts: 762
    #7
    padee6339 said:

    I worked
    I had taxotere/carboplaten every third Friday for 6 treatments. I'd go in around 9 or 10 am, and be done by noon. We'd go to IHOP for a late breakfast then I'd go home and sleep most of the weekend. With the nausea meds she was giving me, I was ok to work by Monday. I was always tired and at times would just hit the wall and have to stay home. At times it was hard to get up and go to work when it was freezing outside and the wigs never really kept my head warm. But I have an understanding boss who didn't mind if I was late or needed to leave early. I hope you have a boss like mine. He made me want to come in and never got ticked off if I called in.
    Hugs - Pat

    I am working through the treatments right now as a teacher
    I've missed probably 20 days so far this year, but it's definately doable. In fact it is a great way to get your mind OFF your situation! I walk in the door of my classroom and the cancer is outside. I would highly recommend that everyone that can should do it. I am now nearing the grand finale of my chemo (round #10/12 upcoming this wed.) and have not missed any sick days with the Taxol. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
    God bless,
    Lorraine
  • ladybug22
    ladybug22 Member Posts: 646
    #8
    chemo
    i took my chemo on thursdays went back the next day go get shot.sometimes i woulg go back to work on tuesday. when i took my herceptin i would leave work to take her, and go back work the next day. when i did rads i worked everyday. when i came home from work i went to bed till the next day
  • ladybug22
    ladybug22 Member Posts: 646
    #9
    chemo
    i took my chemo on thursdays went back the next day go get shot.sometimes i woulg go back to work on tuesday. when i took my herceptin i would leave work to take her, and go back work the next day. when i did rads i worked everyday. when i came home from work i went to bed till the next day
  • aysemari
    aysemari Member Posts: 1,596 Member
    #10
    rrogers34 said:

    On same cocktail
    Hi, I'm on the exact same schedule. I have had one treatment which was on january 8th. I was weak, however, I believe most of that was from the process from diagnosis, surgery, port, then chemo. I did fine. The only problem I had was constipation. The nausea meds worked great. I get a nuelasta shot the day after my "big treatment" (Carbopatin, taxotere & herceptin). I am achy from that. Drink Lots and Lots of water, gatorade. I am now noticing some heartburn, I take malox for that. My toungue gets sore when I brush by teeth, so I got the Betatine mouthwash which works well. I went back to work last week. Day one was horrible, mostly because of"everything", not just the chemo. I am currently working about 5 to 6 hours a day. My energy is coming back. I feel better being active when I can. Eat the right foods and listen to your body. I had my one herceptin infusion last week and did fine. I have my next one wed. The week after I will have another "big treatment". If it goes as well as this one did I will be doing good. They say how you react to the first one will give you a pretty good idea of how you will react. I hope yours goes as well as mine. I hope this helps. By the way, I had my hair clipper cut so i wouldnt go through the dramatic loss of hair. My hair is still growing. LOL. I dont know how long that will last. I expect to loose it on the next treatment. God Bless and let me know how you are doing.

    On same cocktail too
    Hi,

    I will get my first treatment this Friday and am also planning to work through it.
    Like so many have mentioned it before it is different for everyone.

    Thank you for the tips,

    Ayse
  • shortscake
    shortscake Member Posts: 228
    #11
    unable
    I am unable to work doing chemo i have chemo on Mondays i am ok on Tuesday but wednesday and Thursdays are my hard days that is the whole week.
  • pgrace35
    pgrace35 Member Posts: 122
    #12
    Everyone is different
    But I worked through my whole treatment on chemo. I planned it so my worst days were the 2 days I had off to recover. I would then go back, though I didn't feel great and all the side effects would start kicking in, it really did help me to keep my mind off it more when I was busy. But listen to your body, if you are feeling weak, or really tired go home early, or come in later, don't push yourself to hard. Good luck, look forward to hear how you are doing.
  • ppurdin
    ppurdin Member Posts: 1,181 Member
    #13
    Working while doing chemo.
    I admire all you that could work during Chemo.i had a really hard time with chemo.I could not have worked.They stopped my Chemo because of the terrible allergic reaction I had.This is not common,so i don,t want to scare anyone.I have always had a hard time with different meds.like some one eles said everyone is different.(Pat).
  • MyTurnNow
    MyTurnNow Member Posts: 2,686 Member
    #14
    Hi, Saltylibrarian. I also
    Hi, Saltylibrarian. I also had chemo every 3 weeks but I had taxotere and cytoxan. I had my treatment on Thursday morning and went back Friday for the Nuelasta shot. I worked throughout my chemo taking off the 2 days every 3rd week. I also continued to exercise and didn't seem to have any severe side effects. The most important thing is to watch your body and not over do it. Everyone is different and we all react differently to the drugs. The one thing we all have in common while doing chemo is to make sure you drink lots of water. Best of luck to you and keep posting to let us know how you're doing. Take care.
  • sallyf
    sallyf Member Posts: 33
    #15
    I admire all of you who
    I admire all of you who worked throughtout chemo. The first week out was too rough with my mix, T/C and the Neulasta. I am able to work part-time weeks 2 and 3. There's lots of sitting/standing/walking fast in my job : )
    Anyway, I hope you have some flexibility at your workplace. If you felt crummy, could you work half time the first week after chemo?
    Yep, we're all different, but DON'T get down on yourself if you're tired and achey and find it's a little too rough to go back that first week.

    Good luck and take care of yourself!!
  • boppel
    boppel Member Posts: 26
    #16
    working through chemo
    Hi, when I had my second BC, I worked through chemo and radiation, well, looking back, I would never do it again. I have never felt so rejected by my fellow co-workers , especially my boss. I asked for part time, which was fine, but there were many days I would have gladly stayed home, I was sick from the chemo and very tired and basically nobody cared, I was a burden and others had to pick up the slack. I was treated accordingly. Everybody is different, I got through it. Now I want to mention it was a few years ago and now chemo has gotten a lot better with less side effects and better drugs for the side effects. Whatever you decide, I wish you well. Take care emmi
  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    #17
    boppel said:

    working through chemo
    Hi, when I had my second BC, I worked through chemo and radiation, well, looking back, I would never do it again. I have never felt so rejected by my fellow co-workers , especially my boss. I asked for part time, which was fine, but there were many days I would have gladly stayed home, I was sick from the chemo and very tired and basically nobody cared, I was a burden and others had to pick up the slack. I was treated accordingly. Everybody is different, I got through it. Now I want to mention it was a few years ago and now chemo has gotten a lot better with less side effects and better drugs for the side effects. Whatever you decide, I wish you well. Take care emmi

    depends on your occupation too
    places where you have exposure to infection you should avoid, In addition, many have experienced Chemo brain side effect. So if your work highly stressful, technical, fast pace environment b careful and do not push yourself. Ask your oncologist about recommendations.
    I had Taxotere/Cytoxan every 3 weeks 6 rounds and did not work. My work place was a bacteriological lab. My boss did not agree on part time or work from home assignments. My primary care and my husband encouraged me to stay home. Management of side effects and taking care of my family was enough for me.
    Good Luck
    New Flower

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