How much time off from work taken for a Lumpectomy w/Rad?

SO hard to say!  I've had three lumpectomies.  The first two were a breeze, the third (last fall) was miserable.  I lost over 1/3 of my breast.  I was so frustrated why I wasn't bouncing back so quick and the surgeon kept reminding me of the amount of tissue that was taken.  I aslo developed a huge seroma. 

I'm a nurse and went back after 3 weeks but only 8 hour days.  Even that was a bit much because my seroma would be out of control after a day on the floor.  I was back to my normal 12 hour shifts by 5 weeks.  

Really depends on the type of work you do, the size of your lumpectomy and where it is.  

Best wishes!  You have a lot of thinking on your plate.  Choices are so hard.  I'm in that mode right now myself.  Best wishes and prayers to you!

tjp1071

Hi there,

I had my 2 lumpectomies (of them two areas of concern) on a friday and was bak to work on Monday.  Didn't get clean margins on one and had to have another surgery but then had lymph nodes taken also.  i ended up taken 1 week for that procedure.  now in RADS and working through it 5 done 29 to go  

I agree with the ladies who have already posted about physical recovery time, but keep in mind the emotional impact that this type of surgery, radiation and all the decisions that have to be made around your diagnosis.  I took a few days off of work after my partial mastectomy and SNB.  I went back full time for about 3 weeks, then started rads.  I had whole breast radiation and experienced horrible fatigue and terrible burns.  I worked through rads, but I worked mainly from home.  The amount of energy that it took me to get ready to go into the office for just two mornings a week was even too much.  Physically, i got over it, but I had some PTSD from not allowing myself time to heal emotionally AND physically.

Keep in mind that although you have a desk job that doesn't seem to take much at all, consider what getting ready and travel time to and from work may take more energy now than when you aren't going through radiation.  Most of all, give yourself breaks.  Lots of them. 

I took a week off after the lumpectomy (Probably could have gone back sooner, but the surgeon wanted me to take off 2 weeks, so we compromised). I only took off at the end of the day during radiation, so I could get my treatment done. If I had it to do over again, though, I would have taken more time off. It is not just about healing physically, but about healing psychologically, and I really could have used more time to just process the whole thing. I was really dragging by about week four of radiation.

Karen

I am also a desk jockey and I had a lumpectomy, reexcission and then radiation.

I think I had my surgeries on Thursday and was back at work on Monday.  I let myself be there only part of the day because I know my tendancy to overdo.

I worked all through radiation.  I did my zaps at lunch and tried to walk to and from zaps (but at least walk from) since I was told by the radiation oncologist that I needed to exercise.  I left 1-1.5 hrs early every day and was typically in bed by 10pm. 

Until the very end I was doing pretty darned well--tired but I don't recall it being too overwhelming.  The last weeks I did have "owie nipple" from the zaps but that was dealt with by wearing nothing but underwear tshirts under everything. 

I agree that you need to give yourself the time you need to give yourself.  I was diagnosised in November but didn't have surgery until February.  Perfectly safe per my oncologist but gave me the time I needed --for a large part--to process stuff.  Still I found it VERY helpful that my cancer team included a psychologist who I saw on a weekly basis during zaps and for a while after.  I also took time to go to a weekly cancer support group.

I think the support system I set up for myself really helped me come through my zaps with basically flying colors.