Treatment and working

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  • Cassina
    Cassina Member Posts: 74
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    Jensen, I am working but not very well, forgetful and vague, but it keeps my mind off symtoms however I am thinking of shorter hours and by 5 I am tired and often in bed by 7, as it is warm and comforting! I am getting tired of being obvioulsy  the cancer person in the workplace, although everyone has been nice it is a challenge
  • Jensen
    Jensen Member Posts: 8
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    Hi Cassina. That sounds tough with those long hours. I have worked this last week as I've been feeling pretty good but I'm stuffed after 5-6 hours which is frustrating for me. The patients keep complimenting me on my new hairdo but my work colleagues have all been so  supportive. It is hard being the cancer person in the workplace I agree. I hope you can find a good balance for you. Take care x
  • melclarity
    melclarity Member Posts: 3,502
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    Cassina i worked for about 6 weeks starting chemo, but i was so ill i had no choice but to stop and ended up off work for 3 months which was the remainder of the school year. My standard was push through you have to work. I couldn't afford to not work being a single parent. Seems the universe had other ideas it was the best thing for me and i learnt a valuable lesson for myself finally. Never will i put work above myself 2yrs later i still dont. Finally learnt to put me first above everything to nurture me first time in my life. Things just worked out and lucky i found 1 of my supers had inbuilt income protection but it wasnt until 4 months after treatment. Im back to work tomorrow on 3 days after 12 weeks off from surgery but im looking forward to seeing my Autistic kids. I have a boy who's been crossing the dates off til I teturn which melts my heart. So do what you feel you can and want...health first.. you first x Melinda 
  • lrb_03
    lrb_03 Member Posts: 1,267
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    Hi @Jensen, and a shout out to @Cassina. I, too, am a nurse. I was working in General Practice when I was diagnosed 2 years ago. I had chemo first. I worked most of the way through, with the odd bit of sick leave. With the support of my manager,  I reduced my hours to 3 days/week, Mon, Wed, Friday. This gave me recovery time, whilst still working, as I had very limited sick leave. I'd only been working there 2 years at the time. I further reduced my hours to conserve sick leave, to 2 days/ week  when I had my surgery. I've since, sadly, had to change jobs, as lymphoedema requiring that I wear a compression sleeve and glove have meant I could no longer work in a clinical setting. 
    Take care
    Lyn