Disheartened

I haven't (and am so thankful for that) but wanted to say how sorry I am to hear that you are facing this lack of empathy, and may I say stupidity, on the part of your colleagues. And you shouldn't cancel necessary doctor appointments to keep them happy - it is so important to keep on top of all this stuff. I'm sure you would be supportive of any of them going through a health or life issue that needed time away from work. Not even sure how you can handle this for the best (my instinct is to smack 'em upside the head but that likely isn't the best way!). Hopefully someone else will have constructive ideas for getting through this.

Sorry you are having to deal with this.   Do your boss and co-workers that you had cancer and are doing required follow-up?  I know some people dont like to share medical info at work for various reasons.  I normally would not, but when I got BC i told the boss and selected co-workers so they would be understanding when I was out of the office for my many appointments.  I know I get frustrated if someone is always missing work and I dont know why.   Is there a way you can make up work at another time so extra load doesnt fall on co-workers?  Or take vacation days for your appointments?  Do you have a HR person you can talk to about the company policy regarding doctor appointments?   Breast cancer is scarey stuff...if I were you i would not miss my follow-up appointments.   And if all else faily, i like JO50's advice to smack them upside the head.

I shouldn't be answering for Agada but since I'm familiar with the details of her diagnosis, let me clarify for those who are asking.  She was diagnosed with Stage 0 DCIS however she had isolated tumor cells in two of her nodes.  The usual assumption with ITC is that the cancer cells were moved to the nodes by a surgical instrument; for that reason and because ITC are so small, those who have ITC are considered to be node negative.  

Within staging documentation, ITC is recorded as pN0(i+), which is their way of saying that it's node negative (N0) but still noting that some cancer cells were found (i+).  "Isolated tumor cell clusters (ITC) are defined as small clusters of cells not greater than 0.2 mm, or single tumor cells, or a cluster of fewer than 200 cells in a single histologic cross-section"  http://www.cancerstaging.org/staging/posters/breast12x15.pdf

Agada, I agree with the others who say that you shouldn't be cancelling your doctor's appointments. I mean seriously, people are complaining because you missed work because you had a diagnosis of breast cancer and you had to have surgery and see doctors? I think if somebody said that to me, I would give them a look of incredulity and say something like "Excuse me, are you suggesting that I should just pretend that I never had breast cancer so that it doesn't disrupt your work schedule?". Or maybe just a simple "You're kidding, right?"

Don't cancel your appts to make your coworkers happy. YOU are the one with DCIS not them.