Radiation Treatment and Working

klapham

I am a mom with young children and a full time job. I will be starting radiation treatment soon and heard it can cause fatigue. I was wondering how much time I should plan to be off work and anything else I should need to know before I start. Thank you!

Staceybee

I just finished 20 sessions treatment two weeks ago and worked every day, no time off. It was fine. I took others’ advice on exercise and forced myself to get to the gym every day and got cardio in. I think that was key. I know it is hard to make time for it when working and with kids and the treatment but if you can cut corners somewhere else to make time for some exercise I think it will help. I also forced myself to drink liters of water daily. I added an extra hour to my normal sleep time and slept in with no alarm on the weekend. Fatigue was not bad

OCDAmy

I had rads in the morning before work and never missed a day. I did feel more fatigued towards the end of treatment.

jerseymom12

Not sure if this is an option for you, but the best thing I did was work from home. (While my boss was understanding, I also learned this could be a reasonable accommodation since cancer is considered a disability.) This meant I did not do my very long commute each day so I slept in and could grab a nap if needed.

Flexibility in your schedule helps enormously. I not only had my radiation, but also weekly appointments with the oncologist, and meetings with social workers, integrative therapies and the nutritionist which really helped with stress reduction.

I also got help, and let a lot of stuff go. My daughters did grocery shopping for me, and took on some additional cleaning chores. Extra laundry, dusting, and other chores simply did not get done.

At the beginning I didn't feel much fatigue at all -- it started about two weeks in, and didn't start to lift until almost two weeks after. It reminded me a little of the type of fatigue I used to feel when my girls were babies and I was up with them and then had to go to work. I took two sick days simply because I felt wretched.

Best of luck. You will get through this.

moth

I'm almost half way through my 4 weeks of rads and I don't have any fatigue yet. Compared to chemo this is a breeze - I'm exercising, walking tons with my dogs etc.

I suggest you think about clothes though - you have to apply cremes to your breast regularly, at least twice daily but my RO told me more frequently was better. I expect the lotions will probably wreck bras, tank tops etc from grease stains so I've picked some old sports bras and old tops to wear during this time and if necessary I'll just throw them out after I'm done. I was also told to avoid underwire bras and anything that put pressure on the area. You want the loosest garment you can get away while still getting whatever support you need for your breast. The area under the breast is often apparently the site of skin problems during rads so it's tricky. My handout suggested a very wide soft band shelf type bra or a camisole with built in shelf.

Oh & you can start moisturizing your breast now, even before rads. It's best if your skin is in very good when you start. . According to my center, any unscented lotion with water as the first ingredient was fine.

best wishes

bhansen66

Hi, I finished up in March and I had 36 treatments, and I went during my lunch hour and it went pretty quick overall. I did not have any bad issues with fatigue compared to chemo anyway. There were some days I maybe was a little more tired but I tried to stay active and get plenty of sleep. Overall not bad

gb2115

How exhausting and flexible is your job? You might be able to work through radiation. I did keep working, but I have a flex schedule. I also work right across the street from where I got radiation, so I had motivation to go to work (if I was driving up there, I might as well go to work). I worked for a couple hours, went to radiation, then went back to work. Fatigue was only noticeable later in the week (with M-F treatments). By Friday afternoon I was exhausted, but resting over the weekend helped.

However, that said, if you are able to get the time off work, you should be fine! :-)

ctmbsikia

I also worked during treatment.  The fatigue for me was also more noticeable at the end of the week, so please take time on the weekend if you choose to keep working to rest.  As moth mentioned about clothes, I also took an afternoon/late day appointment time.  I couldn't picture myself working, sathing on goup and returning to work.  I liked going straight home afterwards to my cotton tees and goup.  I had a very flexible employer and I did end up taking 2 days off making a 4 day work week instead of 5 the last 2 weeks, which also helped my fatigue.   Good luck to you!

illimae

I scheduled mine (30) in the afternoon, leaving work an hour early and going home when complete. No issues with fatigue for me but I did miss a few days at the end due to skin pain and I was absolutely not going to work braless, lol

klapham

I appreciate all the feedback. I guess I will figure it out as it comes. I have 5 children, one is away at college so only actively raising 4, one is in travel hockey and and the youngest is 22 months. I'm just exhausted normally.

Zuliana13

I'm at 26 of 33 sessions and, surprisingly enough, fatigue has not been an issue. I work every day and scheduled my rads at 4:30 pm and go straight to my yoga classes on most days. I do yoga three or four times a week and I am convinced it has been key to not feeling the fatigue or maybe not dwelling on it. I hope this helps

Legomaster225

I did not have fatigue during radiation. I did have skin breakdown near the end that was very uncomfortable though. I think if I had 5 kids with the youngest being a toddler it might be a different story. Two year olds are tiring even in the best of health. They also keep you busy which is a good thing. Try to take care of yourself too mom. We sometimes forget that when we get so busy with the kids.