Working with cancer

Hi all,

just a quick post to find out if anyone has had problems at work? Last week my boss made me feel really guilty about having one day off a month to have my treatment…I’ve got my union rep coming in tomorrow so we can all have a meeting…any advice would be appreciated.

katey x

Hi Katy

Sorry your boss is giving you a hard time. This is not a problem I have any experience of but I would say that most people have little or no idea of what secondary breast cancer and its treatment involves. Make sure your union rep knows all about it so s/he can help you put your case in the best way possible. People have all sorts of problems that may affect them at work - you are not unique but your contribution at work is.

Hugs Bon x

Hi katey

Im assuming you do have secondary BC? The reason being is that obviously our in-hospital treatments continue whereas for primary BC it generally is a much shorter time scale depending on things such as whether you have Herceptin and/or pertuzamab etc. Having said that we are all covered by the disability discrimination act as far as I know which means our places of work have to make reasonable adjustment. You may need to check this out and how this affects you through Macmillan or citizens advice or a union rep as suggested. If you do have SBC this will be an ongoing situation so you might also be able to claim ESA if your hours are reduced or you can’t work due to continuing treatment.  I think this is also the case if you are having chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy as part of Primary BC treatment by the way but don’t know the facts for PBC as I’m way past that stage!

Nicky 

ps good luck with the meeting and hope some allowances will be made for you