Hello to all,
This is my first post.
I’m wondering if anyone else out there is finding the work / chemo balance very stressful? I run a small but successful company which is only two years old and my absolute pride and joy (easy to tell I don’t have children yet huh!!). Before all the cancer biz started I was a bit of a workaholic! I have cover in the office for when I cant come in but I still cant relax. I think its partly because I haven’t explained my absence to my clients but I really don’t want to as its very personal. I’ve been off work much more than I expected (thought I would be impervious to side effects of chemo, soo NOT the case) and have only made it in once since my first FEC on 22nd July. When I cant sleep at night I just worry about work, not cancer! Of course I am very aware that some ladies and gents on here have secondary/ more serious/ more worrying diagnoses than me and would love to be worrying about their work rather than their health, so I would hate to upset anyone by sounding insensitive, this is just where I am at. I know I need to get my priorities straight, but I cant seem to do it.
Anyone know what I’m on about here ladies, and gents of course!?!
Cannoliwings,
I certainly don’t come in to the category of younger women but am replying by way of bumping this up the board for you.
All the younger women on here who juggle chemo and surgery and rads and jobs and school runs and (even worse) school holidays have my respect and admiration. I just don’t know how you do it. Being younger helps a bit, I guess.
Perhaps you need some ideas thrown out to you for consideration about how to tell your clients in an impersonal way? Or accept the personal aspect?
Or ask your chemo team for more help with the symptom control?
Hope you get some ideas from some other people working their way through it all
cannoliwings - i have just had my 4th chemo and very career minded. I decided at the beginning not to set myself goals i could not reach as i knew i would be devasteted . Therefore i seen how first chemo went , fec by the way , and i can only focus completely for 1 week out of 3 as i have a responsible job .
Its hard and a pain in the ar* * , however we do what we need to to get through it , please try and be good to yourself and it does help to talk on here as we all totally understand.
Its ob harder when its your business , i work for local goverment so its easier .
Just wanted to say well done for working at all or even thinking about it. I’m no workaholic but I do have two kids so they are my main job. I haven’t got any wise words or solutions but I struggled alot with telling people I had cancer and just wanted to carry on as normal at work because whilst I was still carrying on as normal I didn’t really have cancer. If work is keeping you focused and on track there’s nothing wrong with worrying about it,everyones different. Also you might feel different in a couple of weeks, this whole journey/process does change your outlook/way of thinking so don’t be to hard on yourself.
Thank you Ladies - so great to receive your posts which are very helpful indeed. I work in entertainment and as everyone knows its quite a dog eat dog industry, well on the side of it that I’m on anyway! Well we all know that there is no good point in one’s life to get cancer and I’m sure I can make my situation work for me as much as possible. I think I am going to tell some of my clients that I have to have’ medical treatment but that its nothing to worry about’ and leave it at that!!
I’m off to my GP to get some serious prescription pain killers - have had a killer headache for days now so I suppose looking at a screen doesn’t help. The chemo nurse I called said that headaches are not a common side effect but that if you get a headache anyway it will be exacerbated by the chemo…which was such a comfort to hear!! (not sure what the icon is for I am being wholly sarcastic).
Look forward to talking to you all soon and wishing you the best,
I didn’t work during chemo (I work on medical wards so would be FAR too much of an infection risk - direct patient contact stuff as well). And I still don’t work now as the radiotherapy just takes up too much time.
But I have 2 young children (1 and 2.5) and I have managed to look after them most of the time. I get help, but I have done lots myself. So I think if you want to work then why not?!
I had FEC and I did find it very hard to concentrate on anything after a few cycles, so be aware that may affect your ability to deal with clients as well. I also got very forgetful, and that is not me, I have a pretty good career that did need me to be able to think.
hello all,
as the cycles go on i’m not getting any better at managing this.
finding the balance very difficult and the switching off from work impossible.
anyone else had to deal with this? I think it’s because b.b.c. i was the only one at who ran my work and anything - good or bad reflected on me. Now I’m not there as much and have cover, it’s great but i am still stressed about it.
anyone else managed this better than me?!
Thanks hope everyone is doing ok XX