Good morning!
I’m 4 weeks into recovery from mastectomy, reconstruction and lymph node clearance… feeling good and recovering well but am now starting to worry about the next stage and when I’m likely to get results - and am also wondering about return to work… my GP has only extended my fit note to the end of June which isn’t even 6 weeks post op - and on the other side HR are suggesting that I have an honest discussion with my oncologist (I’m assuming the breast care team) about whether or not I’ll be able to return… I’m a primary school headteacher and do want to get back as I love my job but I don’t want to muck the school around as they are doing very well without me!! Any advice would be welcomed! Thank you
Hi Rachel
Congratulations on getting through surgery and recovering well. My experience was that I got my results 2 weeks after surgery, saw the oncologist 4 weeks after surgery (at which point I was transferred from the surgery team to the oncology team) and then started chemo 2 weeks after that. I understand that if chemo is recommended it’s supposed to start within 2 months of surgery. I don’t need radiation but people I know have waited longer for radiation than for chemo.
Without knowing your specific cancer circumstances, if you think you may need chemo you may want to delay the return to work. I haven’t found chemo too unbearable (although my 3/8 cycle did floor me for a few days) and have continued to work as much as I can, but I can work from home and I assume you can’t. And my oncologist has really put the fear of god into me about avoiding infection during chemo - things like chicken pox can be really dangerous. So I’ve withdrawn my toddler from nursery to protect myself. If you only need radiotherapy I think it’s a little easier to keep going with life. But I don’t have any personal experience of that.
Good luck with your next steps
Hi @Rachael27
I’m pleased to hear you are making a good recovery after your surgery.
Do you know what further treatment you will need? I had a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy last year and it really threw me when I was only issued with a 2 week sick note by the ward following my surgery. What I didn’t appreciate then (but do now!) is that sick notes aren’t an assessment of how “ill” you are: employers need them to claim statutory sick pay from the government. Don’t worry about asking your GP for further sick notes they won’t refuse you!
Physically I didn’t feel too bad, but it was only after seeing my oncologist (who was fabulous!) I realised the impact my diagnosis had had on me psychologically and mentally. My oncologist advised me to only go back to work “when I was crawling the walls and there was nothing I would rather be doing”: she was absolutely right!
In the event I had six months off, but started back slowly as the fatigue from radiotherapy can take a long time to recover from (I still have “tired” days 8 months later).
Good luck with the next stage of your treatment and take all the time you need to heal both physically and mentally (it is very easy to underestimate the impact a diagnosis has on us even though physically we feel OK)
AM 
Hi Rachel27, I’m glad you are recovering well from surgery. I had 2 lumpectomies & radiotherapy, worked mostly throughout, just a couple of weeks off after surgery, I would not advise anyone to do the same! Take all the time you can, radiotherapy is exhausting & I also found that when the treatment was over I had no time to process everything, I should have taken the time to build my strength up again both physically and emotionally. Wishing you well x
I am in a similar situation. Do I return to school in the fall or take a leave? I have school responsibilities, and want to do the right thing, but I’m 3 weeks post-op and waiting for an oncology appt. for next steps. I’m not sure what to do.
I just wondered if you’d returned to work. Maybe the school holidays is a good time to return as at least the children won’t be there even if there’s a lot to be done. Good luck. I went back to work quite soon after I had recovered from surgery and the infection I got afterwards, I was able to go to radiotherapy from work as I worked near the hospital I was going to for it. So I walked there along Chancery Lane I think it was.