Radiation and working

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Anonymous
Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
edited February 2018 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After
Radiation and working
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  • ReadyAbout
    ReadyAbout Member Posts: 211
    edited February 2018

    I am a middle school teacher and will start radiation in a month. I hope to "work through" the radiation and miss as little school as possible, but reading about possible side effects has given me pause. How feasible is it to work full time during radiation? I love teaching, but I'm often exhausted at the end of the school day and that's without radiation, lol.

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  • OCDAmy
    OCDAmy Member Posts: 873
    edited February 2018

    I worked full time through rads. I had my appointment at 8:15 every morning and then headed to work from there. Once a week I met with RO so was a little late those days. I did end up not wearing a bra towards the end, I bought some tight camis and they did the trick. I got fatigued towards the end but it didn't affect my job. You can do it!

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  • GeorgiaRai
    GeorgiaRai Member Posts: 175
    edited February 2018

    It's exhausting, no doubt, but I worked full time (paralegal) through 6 weeks of rads. I scheduled mine for the end of the day so I could go straight home afterwards, and it worked well for me. One of the ladies I met in the waiting room was a school teacher, working throughout treatment and having her sessions at the end of the day. She finished before I did; we both made it through with no severe SE's, and didn't miss any work days. Good luck, Ready - you've got this!!

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2018

    I worked full time (healthcare but where I am on my own time with a super flexible schedule). My flex schedule allowed me to take whatever appointment slot they gave me and I could take as much time as I needed. Treatment was literally 5 minutes away from work so I would go to work for about 2 hours, go to treatment, come back and have lunch then work in the afternoon. If I was tired and didn't have patients to see, I would often go home early. Towards the end I toyed with taking partial FMLA but ended up not doing that.

    I think if I didn't have such amazing flexibility and an awesome boss, it would have been a lot harder to manage.

    You might end up being more comfortable without a bra on at some point, be prepared for that. Your skin does get pretty wonky and bras irritate!

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  • Shellsatthebeach
    Shellsatthebeach Member Posts: 316
    edited February 2018

    Hi readyabout, I am a teacher for 6th graders. I was not able to work through chemo, but was able to work through radiation. I had mine early in the morning since the only openings they had were morning or middle of day. If you can get one at the end of your work day, it would probably be ideal! Wishing you luck and quick recovery!

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