Going back to work

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Amybb
Amybb Member Posts: 18
edited June 2019 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After

I am 49 and was and still am in excellent health. I consider myself to be so fortunate to have been diagnosed and treated at Stage 1. Everybody in my life has been incredibly supportive. This experience has been an emotional roller coaster. The hardest part has been seeing how if effects my husband and father. I’ve seen my dad cry because of it and that is painful for me. I reassure them that I am fine. On to the point of my post. I have not worked since surgery April 17th. I am an occupational therapist in a nursing home. My job is bothering physically Andy mentally demanding. I am currently receiving 16 radiation treatments. I just received the 8th. I would like to return to work but have hesitated since people say the fatigue and skin issues get worse at the end. I am currently receiving short term disability which would stop if I return to work. I’m afraid if I return to work and start to feel unwell I may have to take more time off. So far side effects have been minimal. Could someone who had similar work demands give me advice? My work is very supportive.

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  • 2002chickadee
    2002chickadee Member Posts: 129
    edited May 2019

    Hi Amybb, yep, it's a roller coaster! Glad to hear you're coming to the end of the "active treatment" phase. I work at a desk job which is not physically demanding, so it's not so entirely the same. I did find my fatigue was deep for several weeks after radiation. Then it lessened a bit but it was a few months before I felt back to normal levels of energy entirely. It's probably some combination of the cumulative physical toll and emotional toll (my DX was in January and I completed radiation mid-December, was in some phase of treatment the entire year). My skin was fine throughout radiation and then peeled off for a few weeks after. I sense that skin SE's vary a lot among women and it's hard to predict. Sounds like you may want to stay out on disability until you're sure you can handle it, if the current setup is working well? I do find my work was a nice distraction during treatment and I worked throughout as much as I could (I was on intermittent FMLA), including all through radiation, but I had a week of vacation after radiation ended during which I slept a lot.

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  • Dani444
    Dani444 Member Posts: 522
    edited May 2019

    Amy- I agree so much with the emotional roller coaster comment! It is so true. I am sorry you are going through this. I work in an ER as a tech and went back 6 weeks after my UMX and just as I started rads. I am single so I needed the income. I did convert my FMLA to intermittent just in case. It was really not easy some days when the fatigue was hitting hard. I got pretty red and irritated as well but was able to push through. Would your job let you ease back in with partial shifts to see how it goes? If I could have afforded it I think I would have stayed off work looking back now. I wish you the best, be gentle with yourself and rest when needed

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  • Amybb
    Amybb Member Posts: 18
    edited May 2019

    Thank you Dani. I am fortunate that the duration of my treatment will be 2 months so the financial impact will not be too bad. My radiation oncologist is concerned that my ability to be there 100% for my patients may be compromised. Your statement about staying at home if you could have is especially helpful. I only have 7 treatments left. I just always feel guilty when I am out of work. I am beginning to be more cranky which could be fatigue or just a response to bad weather

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  • Amybb
    Amybb Member Posts: 18
    edited May 2019

    Thank you so much for your reply. I have found staying busy during treatment to beso important. I find it to be so therapeutic. I have been walking a lot and doing as much house and yard work as possible. Since I am almost at the end of the active treatment I just may stay home.

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited May 2019

    I would say if your job lets you stay out, might as well. I worked through 32 treatments, but my job has a flexible workload.... meaning I could put stuff off until later if I needed to. I wouldn't say the fatigue got worse at the end, but my skin certainly did. I had weird allergic reactions to the miaderm though, so maybe if that hadn't happened it would have been easier. In hindsight it might have been easier to just FMLA the whole thing, I don't know why I didn't. I just kept working. Oh well!!

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  • Amybb
    Amybb Member Posts: 18
    edited June 2019

    Thank you gb, I feel like we are so programmed to work, and it’s hard to give it up even when we are ill. Routine is important to me so once I am out of one I start to doubt myself. It’s been hard because I have felt almost normal physically throughout everything. I am starting to feel a bit more fatigued and who knows how I would feel if I was working. Thanks again this forum is very helpful.



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