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mattmandypaige
mattmandypaige Member Posts: 8
edited August 2021 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

I am a school teacher and school starts next week for me. I find out tomorrow the results of my oncotype and whether or not I need chemo. I need to be prepared to let my work know if I need to do chemo so they can find a replacement for me as soon as possible.

My question is how long after your treatments ended were you ready to go back to work full time? I need to have a general idea of how long I will need to be off work, if Oncotype my numbers come back high.


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  • Spookiesmom
    Spookiesmom Member Posts: 9,568
    edited August 2021

    Some of the ladies here have worked through chemo. You could schedule it for Friday afternoon to have the weekend to recover if needed.

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  • exbrnxgrl
    exbrnxgrl Member Posts: 12,424
    edited August 2021

    Although I never ended up having chemo (very long story), it was part of my original tx plan. While it was still on the table, my mo suggested that I give work a try to see how I felt. He didn’t think my students, grade 1, presented any threat as long as I maintained good hygiene in class. He felt it might give more normalcy to my life. That was 10 years ago and I just retired (very weird not to be getting ready for school). Yup, I taught for 10 years after a stage IV diagnosis. Good luck to you with your health and the school year!

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  • KotchAJ
    KotchAJ Member Posts: 126
    edited August 2021

    I'm working through my AC chemotherapy treatments right now. I was scheduled for 4 dense dose AC treatments that I do biweekly. I've had two so far and tomorrow is the third. My work has been great about working with me. I work at a junior college. Our oncologist is only in town on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I have my chemotherapy on Tuesday afternoon. By Thursday, I need a couch day so I take that day off. I also work at a desk all day so that helps, too. I don't think I'd do as well if I was home straight through chemo. I need something to motivate me to get up and move, but we are all different and we handle things differently.

    Your oncologist will be the one that will tell you how long, etc. you will need to be off. Mine told me that working through AC would be tough and he didn't lie:-) The fatigue has gotten worse after each treatment, but you figure it out. I was extremely nauseated after the first one, so we adjusted and added another steroid to the second treatment and I made it through with minimal nausea.

    Mine told me when I started that the next year was going to be rough. I have weekly treatments scheduled after the next two AC, so the timing is hard. I still don't know at this point, how many of those I will have or how they will effect me. Sorry, not a lot of help.

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited August 2021

    I taught at the middle school level through chemo. I had my infusions on Fridays and was back to work Monday morning (I did dose dense with Neulasta shots so I didn't really have to worry about getting sick with something else). I did let my administration know that I wouldn't be on any committees & might cut out early if a staff meeting got too long etc. etc. I felt keeping my life as normal as possible will help me retain my sanity. If I had just sat around thinking about cancer 24/7, I would have gone crazy.

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