Working While on Chemo

Hi Nayda, I am sorry you had to join us here. I am the same stage as you are and based on what you described above your doc recommends the same regimen I went through. I took five weeks of short-term disability for surgery and then worked through chemo and radiation. I had AC on Thursdays, took those Thursdays off and worked from home the following Fridays. I suppose I could have done it on Fridays as well. Taxol infusions are usually easier tolerated and also take significantly less time than AC, so I suppose one could have them after work on Fridays.

I encourage you to review your benefits carefully. If I am not mistaken there are some law provisions under Family and Medical Leave Act that allow taking intermittent leave for chemo treatments. Check the Employment, Insurance, etc. topic on this site for more information.

Good luck and remember it is feasible!

The question about whether you can work while on chemo is difficult to answer. EVeryone is so different. There is no way I would have been able to work during AC Chemo. However, my sister was able to work during AC Chemo 4 days per week.

During Taxol, for most women, it is easier and often are able to go back to work. It just depends on the side effects and how chemo is for you.

Make sure you find out all of your resources at work before you begin treatment so you will not have any surprises if you are not able to work.

Sending all the best! My sister and I were both Stage 3 and both of us are doing well. It is a LONG road!

I think whether you can work or not during treatment depends a lot on what your priorities are. You will not be able to continue to operate as you currently do, something has to give as there will be some days you will not be able to work. You will need to fit in blood tests and some or all of surgeon, oncologist, radiologist, physio, normal doctor, psychologist appointments. Most can not be arranged around normal working hours. You will also need time for the actual chemo treatments, the surgery and recovery afterwards. As described by muska you can minimise time off by scheduling chemo to co-incide with weekends falling on your off days. You would then need your blood results to come good to schedule so as not to delay treatments and have minimal side effects. All things you can not predict. I think most important is an understanding employer and sufficient staff backup being available at short notice to cover when you can't go in. You will likely be more tired during treatment so whatever you normally do outside working hours won't be done so how important to you are those things. As I am a single mother all my time outside work is spent with my kids. They are my top priority so it was a very easy decision for me to take extended leave from work as I wanted to spend what energy I had on myself and the kids not work

With AC, day #3 is often the worst. Since I had ACs on Thursdays my worst day fell on Saturday and I had Sunday to recover. As for labs, at my hospital they do them on the morning of the infusion. I had the labs in the morning, grabbed breakfast afterwards while the labs were done and then headed for AC. I didn't have dose dense, i.e.my infusions were three weeks apart and this regimen didn't require neulasta shots in between. Altogether for AC I took 4 sick days and 4 work-from-home days. Obviously, no extended work hours and all time after work was spent on rest and taking care of myself.

Edited for typos.

Hello,

I started with Chemo first and my treatments were on Wed. I was able to work from home on Thurs and Friday, rest up on the weekends and then was able to work the following week up to my next treatment. Each week was a bit different and sometimes I had to shorten my days. I too needed to keep my sick time and benefits and I knew that I would need the sick time for after surgery.

After surgery I had six weeks of radiation and had to travel an hour and a half each day to the cancer center - I ended up taking this time off as well, in total I was off completely for 12 weeks.

When radiation treatment ended I was at home for one week while the burns healed, then back to work and a year and 5 months later not a single sick day since! (Fingers are crossed).

Good luck, but remember that you can only do what you can and your health is now the most important.

Muska, agreed! My first of 6 chemos was pretty much a "non-event"/ The third and fifth were the "worst" and I took a day off from work each time to recover from those. I think my 6th chemo was "easy" because I was so excited to be done, really.

Nayda, so glad that your boss is being supportive. I also had a supportive boss. You will find that to be such a blessing while you are in treatment. I was determined to work through chemo for multiple reasons.....first, it kept me busy with my mind off the cancer treatment for much of the time. I'm not sure how much TV or movies or books I could have consumed had I gone on sick leave, really! Most importantly, I was healthy and active before my diagnosis and there was no way I was going to have a temporary situation (chemo and rads) affect me long term. I wasn't ready to retire and I wasn't going to let cancer treatment force me into retirement. All that said, I never once did anything during treatment to jeopardize my health. When I needed to rest, I rested.

Now that you have your work situation figured out, make sure that you have a significant amount of support taking care of the household duties. If you have the money, hire a housekeeping service. Push the errands, laundry, bill paying, etc. off on others in the family.

Love and Hugs,

MsP

i worked during chemo. I had treatments on Fridays, but it would probably have been better if they had been on Thursdays because my worse days during ac were days 3 and 4.

I also worked thru chemo, AC. Infusion on Thurs afternoon. I did have to leave work early on infusion days. I had bilateral mx but 2 different surgeries. I took off 2 weeks after each surgery. Friends brought meals and did minor shopping and helped take my tweenage boys to school(single mother). Not fun but manageable

I am a physical therapist and my job is physical in nature. I was able to work through AC. Had treatments in Thursday afternoon, was hopped up on steroids/fine to work on Fri and then rested sat, sun and felt pretty good by Monday then had week of good. During Taxol my treat day was Fri and u felt great until last two treatments when blood counts were low and treats had to be postponed 1-2 days. Then off for surgery. You will figure out quickly what works for you. Some people like the distraction of work and others prefer to focus on treatment only. I think response to treatment is so varied that you won't know until you start. You will learn to live with not knowing as it will becone "normal

Nayda985: I worked full time during chemo, having had a lumpectomy first. I loved my job and as it turned out, a little fatigue was really the only side effect I had. At the same time I went to the gym at least 3 days a week. I would recommend you get a wig because people are sometimes uncomfortable when faced with something that also could happen to them. You will no doubt need at least a few days off after surgery, probably more like a week. I only took a weekend but I just had a lumpectomy. As you say, you may have to adjust as you go. I did have a naturopath that put me on some health supplements.

I too am hoping to work while doing chemo.  As a single mom with two kids I need to work.  I started my new job as an RN so I'm worried about chemo brain affecting me .  My manager has been amazing in working with me so far.  I have FMLA currently to use during my 20 weeks of chemo.  Here's to hoping I have minimum side effects! 

Nayda, thanks for sending me the link to this thread. I guess I need to sit down with my boss next week and see what he thinks. I'm salaried, and my job entails lots of follow up spanning days or weeks, and there's only a little bit of work I can do at home (I'm an Office Manager and have 7 direct reports who are - you guessed it - in the office). I'm not worried about sitting at home and moping. My son would be with me and also my husband on the 3 or 4 days per week that he is off.

I think for me it's more about everyone knowing what to expect and preparing for that, which kind of puts me in an "all or nothing" situation.

You and I are a couple days a part treatment wise. I got my port the day before you (on the 17th). How did your port go?? I start chemo tomorrow on dose dense AC every other week then Taxol weekly. So I'm playing the "will I work or won't I" game right now too.

I have a very demanding job in a high profile position so wasn't sure how I would do... But was determined to not take time off (even though my employer was supportive of my taking time if needed). I have only completed my first round, but I found it very manageable. My transfusion was on the Friday, and even while in the chair I was checking emails. By Monday morning I was near 100% with my energy level. I am relieved that I was able to manage and am optimistic that I can continue through the balance of treatments when the SE can compound.