Back to work.
Back to work. Hi all,
Deep breath… I’ve done it !
I have asked my doctor to sign me off ( bless her, she asked if I was sure ) as of next Thursday 22nd and so I return to my former working life.
I have not worked at all since diagnosis (Feb 2006) and consider myself extreemly lucky to have been able to take the time I needed for the whole BC thing.
Making the decision was very hard and I was filled with dread before but now that I know the date it’s actually a relief.
I still have concerns about how I’ll cope and I’ve been following with interest many of the threads on here dealing with the subject of return to work.
Anyway wish me luck and I will post later and let you know how I get on.
My French Adventure continues with a trip there (to redecorate) for the first two weeks in April over Easter. Can’t wait !
Good luck to all of you who are just about to, or just have, returned to work
Love Ali
good luck I was very pleased to get back to work as it was a return to a world not dominated by my ill health.
I phased it in though, I worked shorter hours for the first 4 months (although during some of this time I was having radiotherapy so I couldn’t have worked all the time).
Mole
don’t overdo it Hi
Just remember although physically you may feel fine, from my experience the emotional side of things takes a lot longer to get over.
I returned to work last March (god a year already) only 3 weeks after last chemo and then worked throughout my herceptin infusions for a year.
By August I was emotionally wrecked and needed a couple of weeks downtime to recover.
Take care of yourself - you are the most important thing to think about not work - do it gradually if you can a few hours at a time and when you need to rest DO!!
I still need to have some time out every few weeks to recharge my batteries.
Take Care
Clemy X
Hi Clemy I started work too soon (three days after rads finished)back like a bull at a gate…full time…only lasted one week and I was physically and mentally shattered had to give it up. I now am applying for jobs available after Easter, this will give me a bit extra time to re-coup.
Will be thinking about you and hope you get on alright, just getting back to some sort of normality is all I am looking for.
Take care
Elaine
Hope it all goes well for you! I’ve just gone back after 9 months off, and it’s great! I am phasing it very gradually, doing a couple of shorter days for a while and building up to my normal full 3 days. At least that’s the plan - having done 2 very short weeks, I am desperate to work longer hours and get my teeth into it!
But I have been amazed at how tiring it is - I don’t get it - I thought I’d been reasonably busy at home, but there’s something about work that is wearing me out! So at the moment a certain amount of frustration is mixed with the feeling of achievement. Still - it’s another stage on the journey, and all in the right direction.
One or two people have asked me, “So are you better now?”, which I find difficult to answer because it’s not quite as clean cut as that. I found it helpful to have thought through what comments people might make and prepare appropriate replies.
People are lovely and very kind, but unless you’ve been in this boat yourself you have no real idea of what is still going on behind the scenes!
I hope all goes well on 22nd. Careful you don’t do too much, as people are forever telling me !!
Back to work I went back to work the day after my last chemo session after being off for 6 months. This was on Feb 16th. I am now half way through rads which have been early morning appts so that I could go staright to work afterwards. I went back full time. No gradual return but they are very good at work and have given me a disabled car space right outside the office which is really handy as I work in the middle of Southampton city centre where parking is a nightmare and very expensive.
I have found it very manageable but know that I may feel more tired towards the end of rads and I will take days off in I need to.
Am so looking forward to a week in Venice at end of April. Phew!!
Thanks Hi girls,
Thanks for all your replies and your welcomed advice.
I gave myself loads of time to recover from treatment (surgery, chemo & rads ) which I finished at the end of November last year. I was in no hurry to return to my primary teaching job as there is never going to be any possibility of taking moments to yourself when you are at the chalkface.
I am due days in lew of holidays missed so I’m working only two half days per week for 4 weeks which is broken by the Easter hols. for two weeks. So all in all I have a 6 weeks phased return and after this I will be working only two days per week as I jobshare anyway.
I still worry about coping even though this appears to be very little worktime.
I feel so much anguish for those of you forced to return too soon and working long tiring hours. We should not be expected to cope with such pressures after all we’ve been through.
Love Ali
hi ali.
i went back after 9 months off, i work in an infant school as a teaching assistant. i did a phased return and work have been great.
after 3 weeks back i felt like i had hit a brick wall so they reduced my hours again, since then i have got back to 4 mornings 9-12 and i also am cleaner in charge at the comprehensive school, i am in the final come back as leader of huff and puff at lunch time, only 2 days a week at the moment.
do take care.
sharon. x
Princess Hi,
I lost my reply to you after typing for ages so I gave up in frustration. That was on Friday so I’m trying again. It was on the subject of the comments people might make.
Just after my own diagnosis when I was very ignorant about this disease I met a work colleague who had just returned to work after her own BC journey and I gushed on at her about how well she looked and that I was glad she was better.
Can you feel me right now cringing as I type this. Her reply confused me at the time as she thanked me for saying so but assured me that it wasn’t the case !
I’ve learned from that of course. People are meaning to encourage you by what they say so when I am told I look great I thank them in a sincere manner and when they ask me how I’m doing I give them my biggest smile and tell them I’m doing really well. Which is true. I’ve never been asked if I’m better now and I don’t even know the answer to that myself. You are so right. People with no first hand experience of this can not know what it is like for us and perhaps we should not expect them to, after all we were like them once upon a time.
Thanks for your good wishes and I promise not to overdo it.
Love Ali