Hi everyone i finished my treatment on 20th dec .I had 7 months of treatment of which i was on sick from work.I had op chemo and rads .
I work in a busy tearoom and it is quite a physical job including things like carrying trays full of pots to and from the dishwaher ,putting all the chairs up ,mopping ,sweeping ,cleaning and the normal tearoom duties.
I have been there 14 years this year and hardly ever had a day off sick so i thought i owed it to myself to take some time off.My employers have been great ,the area manager says to go back when i am ready even if i take a year out and that i can go back on a phased return. I have decided i want to go back at the beginning of feb as it will be hard and i will have to build my strength up wether i go back now or in a few months.
How many hours should i realistically be thinking of doing ?I am only part time ,employed for 16 plus hours but usually do a lot more.They are short staffed too so i don’t want to go back and be expected to go at full pelt straight away .I have always been independent and always worked hard when I’m there so I’m gonna find it hard taking it a bit easier.I go to the docs on fri and I’m not sure what phased return to ask for.
Apart from hot sweats , being tired some days aches and pains and not quite being able to straighten my arm yet i am ok .
I would appreciate any advice .Many thanks Sharon xx
Hi Lisha/Sharon,
how great is that to be going back to work! Well done you.
It’s really hard to advise, especially on a job that is pretty physical, and without knowing what your treatment was (I’m too lazy to read all the threads to discover!). I think it would be worth checking with a BCN or surgeon or physio what level of lifting and stretching is OK for you - I know what limits I have due to my surgery and would not be able to do the work you describe. It probably makes sense to ask if you can go back on ‘light duties’ - no heavy lifting - for at least a while. Everyone seems to have to work out their own phased return - and it’s hard to tell until you try it.
Is it maybe possible to go in for one or two half days and see how you go and then increase from there?
I hope you find the right balance for you and really enjoy getting back to work again.
Lisha, I have been off work for 10 months now and going back in March on phased return. My union say I can have 12 weeks for each month I’ve had off i.e. 12 weeks (I have worked there for 25 years so my contract is a good one). They suggest 2 days i.e tuesday, wednesday 10-2 first week, building up. Make sure you have union rep when you negotiate your return if possible because once you are back at work it will be like you’ve never been away. Any physical or physcological feelings will not be taken into account. I’m not a militant person but just feel that you need to take full advantage of what you are entitled to because it is important that you cope with your fatigue, side effects, feelings etc. without colleagues forgetting the reason you have been off, (as we know, its not the flu!). x
Hi Sharon,
I went back to work after 5 months of chemo on a phased return just before Xmas. I work as a nurse specialist so don’t do any lifting but usually do quite a bit of walking and talking to people. I usually work 2 days one week and 3 days the next (9-5).
The first week I was shattered and found I was quite breathless. I went in around 10am and was ready for bed by 2pm! It was great that so many people were concerned about me, pleased that I was back and asked how I was but that in itself was tiring, going over how I was, what I’d been through etc…
I think it’s better to under rather than over estimate what you can do, especially in the first week back. I’d aim for no more than a couple of hours on your first day and take it from there. Useful to check with your doc or nurse what is realistic for you to do physically in terms of lifting. As RevCat suggests, maybe light duties if possible, so no trays in both hands at the same time!
Good luck!
Laurie x
Hi Sharon,
Maybe your employer could organise an occupational health assessment. As well as looking at your return to work and the hours you can do, it would look at what the job involves and recommend suitable adjustments. Another advantage of this would be that your employer shouldn’t then ask you to work any hours over and above what has been agreed.
Might be worth raising with your area manager - you could make him/her aware of any weakness, lymphodeoma risk, pain etc. when you put the suggestion forward. My job is much less physically demanding than yours but I still find the idea of going back to my full hours exhausting. I’ve been working all through treatment when I feel well enough, but now my employer wants to have an occ. health assessment before allowing me to increase my hours.
Take care
Hi Sharon,
As bumblybee said I think an occupational health assessment is a good idea and, in fact, I believe it’s a legal requirement under the disability act that your employer has to consider making suitable adjustments. My OH has just had an assessment done and they have recommended that she adjust her hours, is allowed to take extra rest breaks etc.
Good luck!
Hi Sharon
Congratulations on going back to work - a milestone!
As ‘theloner’ says you are protected under the Equality Act 2010 and your employer has to make certain adjustments to enable you to return to your work. I am sure that if you contact the Helpline here on 0808 800 6000 somebody can advise you more fully as to what adjustments you employer should and could offer you, as could somebody on the Macmillan Cancer support helpline on 0808 808 0000.
I think that it is very important that you know what your rights are before you do return to work, but as you say, your employers have been great up to now so I think that they will be more than reasonable in coming up with a phased return that suits you both. They probably don’t expect you to work at full pelt right away anyway. I think that you should see what ideas that they might already have, and if they sound feasible suggest that you give it a trial and perhaps review it at the end of the first week back to see how you feel, and making any adjustments that you both feel need making if any.
I am so lucky in that I have been off work now since mid-April, although I do have a work lap-top which enables me to log-on to my emails and keep in touch as well as do some work from home. I have been signed off until February now, but I have another op which may mean that my sick leave will be extended. I have been told that once my sick leave is over I am to take my annual leave before starting a phased return-to-work which will be spread over 8 weeks.
I think that a phased return is an excellent idea as at least it will ease you back into work and it’s routine more gently than being thrown back in to the deep end, particularly if you have been off as long as you have. You need to build up to your full hours gradually otherwise you will soon find yourself exhausted, let alone work extra hours. As for being short-staffed - that really is not your problem, but one for your employer to sort out and not you.
Don’t forget that somebody has had to do your work whilst you have been off anyway. Perhaps you can suggest doing the more light-weight parts of your job to start with that demand less physical activity and tot up how long these would take you to work, and perhaps taking on board some of your colleagues lightweight tasks too rather than do the more arduous work until you are back in the swing of things and capable of more later on. Perhaps there are things that you could do that might not necessarily be your normal work, but which you could do instead and somebody else could do your work in the short term.
I’m sure that both you and your employer can come up with a solution that suits you both, but make sure that you do discuss it beforehand and that you agree with the plan before you return to work as well as regularly review how things are progressing and how you are feeling.
Good luck
Mazzalou xx
Just a small suggestion to add: if you work the morning there is a temptatoin on both sides to ask about staying for the afternoon, so try and do afternoons only (unless your cafe opens evenings as well, in which case start with the tea-time/early evenings, but maybe not the last hour when all the tables & chairs have to be put away! Lunch cover is really useful too eg 12-2 doesn’t sound long but it will be really busy then and it makes sure all your colleagues can get their break. Tills, people skills, I’m sure you haven’t lost that at all! Find, borrow or invent a (grand)child to collect from school, so you don’t think of staying past 3pm!
You’re doing great getting back, do be gentle on yourself as it is a shock going back after any break, even without illness and reduced physical abilities.
Hiya, I found it great to be back at work - but really take it slow and easy. My GP said to me right at the begining " because you are going to have operation, chemo , rads you need to plan to be off for about a year" I thought she was crazy but she said no - this is what other women have told me after their treatment. I thought …it won’t take me a year, but you know what, I was still on phased return a year after diagnosis and glad of it.
best of luck with it, Nicola
Thanks ladies ,i think i am expecting too much too soon maybe yet know deep down that it will take time .I will def ask for a phased return and i will also ask for light duties and i will take it slowly xx
Good luck and let us all know how you get on please
Mazzalou xxx
Hi all, have been reading this thread with interest as I have been having a mental struggle about going back to work as I,ve felt really well on second half of first cycle. I have been feeling people will think I,m just being lazy as I,ve bumped into colleagues in tesco. I spoke to the nurse at my per chemo yesterday and she said, just do what you feel, some people like to work, some people need time and rest but whatever you do DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP about it, it,s a really small part of your WHOLE life so take your time. It just helps some times I think to have someone say it,s ok to stop for a bit. It helped me anyway,
Herbi x
How times change: fifty years ago a woman would have a baby or two and take twenty years off, now she has a life-threatening illness and is expected to carry on like there’s no big deal…
Girls, guys, be kind to yourselves!
I was told it can take a year from the end of treatment before you feel pretty much normal. Everyone is different but don’t knock your pan in to meet what you feel are the expectations and needs of your colleagues ,you may feel that you should(I certainly did) but I’m sure your work won’t want you to. My brain was still chemo fried at the point your at, so your recovering a lot quicker than I did.Phased return is definitely the way to go.The best advice I can give is listen to your body very closely when it says stop do it. I went back a year after treatment ended to a very physical job,( I was an auxiliary nurse in a surgical ward and out patient clinic) and still found it very tiring, I also found I was very sore and was back on the pain killers within 2 days. As I said you sound like you have recovered very quickly which is great but don’t put your recovery at risk. If your not under pressure to go back then take advantage of it and set yourself physical goals before going back to see how much you can do before you have to rest. It might make it easier to go back if you have a good understanding of how quickly your body is catching up with your brain.
Let your body rule your head for a while.
Hi everyone ,just to update i am going back to work tomorrow.Two half days a week to start with .I will go 9.30 till 2.00 .I am really looking forward to it now. I remember ironing my overall 7 and a half months ago and crying believing i would never get back again. Im sure we all go through that .So i feel its quite an achievement to be going back and what with the snow it will be a quiet first day. For once things might just be on my side 
xx
Just to add not sure how my workmates will cope with me as i have bad chemo brain ,went swimming last week and to my horror forgot my towel lol. Thats a first!!! xxx
That’s great news! Hope your first day back goes really well and you return home with a big grin on your face. Don’t push yourself, and don’t be surprised if it takes a bit longer to get going again than you hoped, you’ll get there soon enough. Enjoy!!!
Lisha, just found this thread . I am also returning to work tomorrow after 8 months , chemo, mx, rads, I will send you energy if u do likewise…lol. as for chemo brain…who am I???
Good luck
Lorna xx
Thanks Revcat i will try not to push myself too much. I am really excited now ,how sad am i ? Will be great to get back to some sort of normality .
Lorna brill ,what an achievement .Back to work .Hope you have a great day.Are you going back on reduced time too? I will certainly send you some energy ,i hope i remember where i work though lol .Good luck
Sharon xx
Yeah , I’m having a staged return , maybe bit much as its mon- wed t first . If I’m too tired I will reduce it. Best of luck,it will be good to get back to something resembling a normal life.
Energy on its way…
Lorna