i’d love to here from women in emotionally demanding,highly responsible positions with need for rapid decision making, long hours of work and management and admin at home
how much time did you take off?
phased return ? what does that mean under these circumstances?
the emotional impact of the diagnosis, and effect on confidence and self belief and how that impacted on return to work
6 weeksof phased return does not sound long enough when being back at work means 10hour days, plus additional paperwork and meetings
at the moment i could not contemplate work, but i want to be realistic when approaching it. currently 4 weeks post bilat mastectomy, with immediate reconstrction - i thought would be feeling much better and returning at 6 weeks but…
Hi NA123 I hold a very senior position in the NHS. I also have clinical background. You do not say if you are having further treatment? Idol lowing surgery am currently having chemo and I have decided not to attempt to work. Some ladies do so personal decision. My decision was largely based on the fact I have felt too unwell and that my job needs to be fully on top of my game. I would suggest phased return needs to include adequate gaps between days ie 1 day then 2 days off. We cannot escape the long hours but gaps between should help.
Hi all,
Once referred to occ health and asked pertinent questions about my health, work, social support a very detailed plan was devised, essentially increasing sessions by half a day a month. Due to the fatigue i experienced this sounded challenging, to anyone fit i have no doubt it sounds stupidly slow.
Occ health also stated as hours / work patterns increased, fatigue would worsen a little as stamina builds.
I have spoken with ACAS, Macmillan, Breast cancer care, my union - all brilliant sources of consistent advice, not just opinion, and found the EMPLOY charter on this site a great tool.
Good luck with your return to work i hope it is ss smooth as possible for you.
LL
Devils advocate here.
It is possible that you may have a swift recovery, and you may be back at the helm with minimal disruption.
One thing i have learnt is to listen to my body and my needs. The breast care nurse seemed.really disappointed that I was still so fatigued and this resulted in my feeling a double failure for not re-engaging with.my former life more rapidly & being fatigued.
Be kind to yourself, especially if your decisions affect others lives.
LL xx
Thank you all for the helpful advice, which all makes so much practical sense.
I thought I would be back by now 10 weeks post surgery, still don’t have oncotype results (political negotiations)
I need to go back to feel normal. Manager said trust policy 4 weeks of phased return, but since then I spoken to executive directors and occupational health and a longer phased return has been agreed
I think 3 half days of 3 hrs for 3 weeks,
and building up from there, probably will do more admin/management from home
Plan exercise/gym at least 3x week
Rest in the afternoon
i think this is going to take 3-6 months
I should not be deciding at this point whether I should renegotiate my contract to sensible sessions, as it may not be the correct decision for me
What I do know is that it will help my recovery to go back to work and start feeling normal. You will generally know that is the case, it wasn’t the case 2 weeks ago