How has COVID-19 affected your work/career?

I am a contractor graphic designer for large corporate clients. I have lost all my major clients in the last two weeks. It was an amazing gig job when times were good, but Marketing is the first to go when something like this happens. I will have no income coming in as of April, so trying to figure out if I need to go work at a grocery store or something. Super hard to contemplate when I've been making around $85 /hr working from home to go to $12/hr working out in the world with Corona and having to actually get dressed in the mornings. But I'll do what I have to do. I have younger children too, so since they aren't in school trying to figure out how to make everything work.

My husband still has his job, but if the government contracts, his job may not be as steady as we hoped. it's a huge company with the US gov as a the client.

We do have some other sources of income, with rentals, but I bet those will stop being paid as well so it's incredibly scary for us. We've hunkered down and stopped all spending money and are trying to figure out how to not lose our house if all income sources dry up.

I work for a small company who has a relationship with a very large company CBRE (C B Richard Ellis) property maintenance company. We receive work orders from them for their clients that are also very large companies (Iron Mountain, Walgreen's, etc.) I dispatch work orders for electrical work across the US. We also have a few project teams for bigger jobs, and we have expanded to a few new clients just working with us and not being the 3rd party. That is exciting news for our little company and I can't say which account they've landed, but it's a big one. The owner also holds mfg. rights to his other company which monitors pours out of liquor and beer spouts to help that industry be more profitable. I feel bad for that team. They are young professionals who are at a complete stand still thru this. I am still working, remotely, and feel I should be OK -IF- we get the spread to slow down and we can return to some sort of normalcy in a couple of weeks. It's an unknown.

I work in the main office of an elementary school, So out until who knows when.

I'm still working (in health care) and am the only one wearing a mask. Masks are not required for the most part, currently. Even so, I'm not taking any chances and started off with the cheapo pleated blue/whites. I managed to get my hands on two N95s my some miracle but set them aside for others. Next came the N95s provided for the workplace. They are what they are, but they don't fit well and hurt during and afterwards. Bad fit, poor coverage, so, no thank you. The peeps I help those 2 N95s for will never be able to wear them on their own (properly). They are 3M and come with two elastic bands. Fits very much like a bandage over a blister and fits like a dream. Comes with it's negatives, but who cares? Covers it well. I will attempt to take good care of them for a month. Hopefully, by then, there will be more masks.

In general, wherever I shop, there is at least one person (usually under 50) who decided that it was OK to shop while obviously sick. Some come straight from the hospital to shop (wristband and a shocking lack of social distancing).

Is there a light side to this? At least I still have a job in this wonderful economy and a workplace that takes care of their Covid-19 employees, if it should happen to them. I'm a hugger and I wish I could hug all of those thoughtful, dear people who stay home.

I am a critical care RN. I had a rod placed in my right hip and femur at the end of December to stabilize the area where my largest bone met is. I've been out on FMLA since then. I am really grateful to my employer and coworkers for their support through all of this. They have been amazing and donated hours that helped get me through to this point. I am now healed and facing going back to work in the Covid-19 pandemic and honestly am a little worried. Since being on Verzenio I am definitely immunocompromised but my last labs have shown improvement in my neutropenia. I have now exhausted my FMLA leave and my savings are running out so I need to go back. I'm going to have the conversation with my MO about being released even if I'm on limited duties. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. At the same time I feel like I've been social distancing since December and I love my job so I am ready to be back. I see my MO on the March 31st and have more labs and will take it from there. I think no matter where you work if you are dealing with breast cancer this is a challenging time.

I took early retirement from Federal Express when I was DX almost 9 years ago so I’m k with retirement income and SS plus more importantly my husband is still working although from home. He’s a civil engineer and his company still has a lot of work. It’s kind of nice having him at home for a change despite the circumstances.

I do worry about my son though. He’s still working but his hours have been cut in half. He has 4 year old twin boys and zero support from the mother. My DH and I helped him get a house last year and we have given him $ for legal fees. We buy a lot for the boys and we have had new blinds and drapes installed in the house.

I babysit for the boys a lot esp when he’s working. I love having them. They are too precious. We pay the tuition for their school which is temporarily closed. It’s not cheap but it’s a great school and they are learning a lot. The school will reopen April 12 - at least that’s the plan - so we bring refunded half of the tuition for April.

You ladies have great jobs. I hope this health crisis gets better sooner rather than later.

Stay safe.

Diane

I am single and a self-employed Realtor. Although we are considered "essential", my Broker says no showings or listings unless the property is vacant.. How often does that happen? Since I always work from home, that part hasn't changed. But, the fact that everyone wants to "wait to see what happens", there is no urgency to buy or sell. My business has come to a halt. I hate the uncertainty of everything, as we all do. I am thankful that my house is paid for and I am healthy. God will provide. The worst part for me has been not seeing my family. Thanks to all of you that are fighting this battle on the front lines.

I have been working at home as of last Monday. I work a state job at a university. My husband also started working from home last Monday as well. While having to set up two home office areas has been challenging, I am grateful that our home is big enough for each of us to have our own area, I took the spare bedroom and he took the office area in our den, so we each have set up make shift offices at home. I am grateful that we are both still working. I do miss going to the office each day and being able to interact with my coworkers! At first we thought that all would be back to work mid April but just read that Trump has extended this social isolation thru April 30th! Oh, also finally able to buy toilet paper here as the stores are now limiting the packs you can buy, I never really understood the panic buying of toilet paper! I do have an oncologist appointment early May, I guess they will let me know if it gets cancelld

GmaFoley, Sry you lost your job. I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I hope you are able to get through to your unemployment office when you apply. You will have to pack some patience!:) I've been trying to get thru to the Soc Sec office with a "2 hr" wait time and I was on hold for 2hrs and 35 mins last night and still no answer. I know everyone has to deal with this, but with so many unemployed people, it seems there are several places where workers are desperately needed! The SS office hrs were 7-7; as of today, they reduced them to 8-5:30 in the middle of this...makes no sense at all. Maybe I got off topic...stay well everyone.

Hi Everybody!

This is my first time posting, so here goes. I had surgery at the end of January (and was considered cancer free after), was diagnosed at the end of December and just finished radiation one week ago today. I am an Emergency Room Nurse but have been off of work due to fatigue and burns to right breast and chest due to radiation. I also have been dealing with axillary wall syndrome. I’m supposed to start Tamoxifen in a few weeks for 10 years(not sure about 10 years we shall see). I am very worried about being immune compromised or suppressed due to recent cancer dx, radiation tx, burns and Tamoxifen. Rad oncologist doesn’t inspire much confidence and like all of you I don’t want to be more sick or die if I get Corona. Every time I ask if I am at greater risk I get the answer “ I don’t think so”. I feel like that’s not a good enough answer for me. I am trying to deal with all the things cancer has taken from me, like no more wine(lol), no more normal sex life, no more good, normal sleeping at night,no more feeling invincible, no more low stress personal life and now this! I am Afraid that cancer will take my job as well. I’m not sure what to do. I carry the health insurance although hubby works from home and makes a good wage. I know cancer never comes at a good time, but this is a REALLY bad time right now.

I work for a county government and can easily work from home. It's not the county I live in, and they have many, many more cases of COVID than where I live. I am grateful to be able to work currently in spite of cancer treatments and COVID, and I am really looking forward to when both cancer treatments and COVID are over.

Hi! Thanks for responding. I've reached out to medical oncologist's nurse, waiting to hear back. The thing is, I don't think anyone knows for sure with 100% confidence whether someone like me is at an increased risk of complications, because it's all so new. I will see what my medical oncologist says and see if I can get my prescription for Tamoxifen sooner rather than later due to all the chaos even if I have to wait a few weeks to start it.

Is anyone else going through job interviews? I was hoping to take down time to get treatment under my belt on COBRA because I just left a job that had heavy travel. However, I have to wait for 2 months for my initial appointment, in late May, due to COVID 19. Meanwhile, I have several job interviews this week via Skype. My concern is that something may come through with a May start date, and I need to quarantine for two weeks before my first appointment in late May. If anyone hires me, I will have to tell them that I need to WFH from mid May to end of May. At this point, I am hoping that all employers will mandate WFH through May at a minimum, or potentially delay my start date. I don't think starting a new job with me being remote and the rest of the team in the office will work.

Well I am getting PISSED. My surgery was on Feb 27th with the plan to return to work ~ 4 weeks (April 1st) after on a part time basis and building up to full time over 4-5 weeks. The doctor submitted paperwork for an Apr 10 return date. Fast forward a few weeks after surgery. Drain removal with plastics, post-op with breast surgeon and a consult with MO all on the same day: Mar 9th. All TE fills scheduled beginning Mar 20. Per plastics, they preferred I had at least 2 fills before returning to work. Timeline on track -check.

Then this damn virus happened. Our first cases in Michigan occurred on Mar 10th and things moved fast with closing down. The following week, my 1st 2 TE fills were cancelled due to clinic slow downs.Non essential medical visits had not yet been banned. Then the next Monday, 2 more were cancelled but plastics assured me they had full intention to get all their TE fill patients in to keep on track. Now we were looking at mid to late April at the earliest. My return to work was extended to May 11th expecting I would have fills late April. The following week all appointments were cancelled. The virus was spreading quickly and all non essential visits were cancelled.

I have been thrown into a whirlwind of red tape. When all appointments were cancelled with absolutely no idea of when I would get in, I let them know being off work indefinitely was not an option. They submitted paperwork last Monday for me to return last Wednesday (4/15). I am STILL not back to work. I have emailed and called twice asking for my clearance to be sent to my manager. No replies. Now I have already eaten 2 weeks of my FMLA for the year with at least one more surgery slated for later this year (hopefully). Thankfully I am paid while I am off, but I just heard furloughs are a potential. So I am very nervous my job could be in jeopardy.

4 weeks has turned into 8 weeks. I am over this delay! I have cleaned out all of my closets, 2 pantries, all of the kitchen cabinets, the refrigerator, 2 freezers and repainted a wall. I finished up another semester of school. I will repaint the trim in one of the bedrooms tomorrow. After that, I have run out of ideas since I reorganized everything before surgery. The dog hides from me in fear of being brushed again.