To work or not to work while fighting cancer

Adriana,

Thanks for posting on this very good topic.  I've personally been grappling with this decision for the last 6 months.  As you can tell from my signature, I've been fighting this battle for two years and am both physically and mentally exhausted.  I'm leaning toward the decision to either retire (can I say that at my age?) or cut my hours drastically.  If I knew I was cured, then it would be easier to stay working.  However, with this disease there are no guarantees and I also want to enjoy each and every day.  I too get people asking me if I'm still working.  It sometimes makes me think what's wrong with me?  I keep hoping my life will return to normal, but I don't know if I'll ever have normal again.  It's extremely hard to make this decision financially when your family is dependent on your portion of the income.  It's going to mean some sacrifices and lifestyle changes.  That just puts more stress on us.  Whether we work or not, those co-pay bills just keep pouring in the mail.  So while I haven't pulled the plug, I'm working towards it.

Donna

Thanks for your responses.  

Dear Adriana,
I was dx in 2006 at the age of 65. I, like you, saw no reason to retire and planned to work as long as possible.

After my dx I did take 6 1/2 months of short term disability. My job as executive assistant for the Mgr. of Engineering was very hectic and kinda 'all' or 'nothing'.... The disability was available to me after 19 years with the company, so I had no problem getting it. I also knew that the company had to hold my job or a comparable job for me to return to.

I went back to work, full time, after my treatments and it was a real challenge. By then I had turned 66 and had inherited a new boss during my short term disability time off. The Aerospace company I worked for had doubled its number of employees in just 6 months. My new boss would not agree to getting another person to help me and encouraged me to retire. I wasn't ready to retire; I needed to work in more ways than one. I went to Human Resources and was made aware of a more manageable job in another department.

I took the new position and worked until I was 68 yrs old. The reason I retired then was because the company was having some cut-backs and offered a "Retirement Incentive Package" to several of us older folks. It was one of those "once in a lifetime things and I couldn't turn it down.

Before I retired I accepted a couple of jobs in my church to fill my time, also set up a day for volunteering at the oncology clinic. I also became active in playing bridge after many years of not playing.

I also had a meeting with yourself to see if my Social Security and small pension, and dividends from 401K would cover my expenses.   I knew in the back of my mind that I could always go through a temp. agency and work some, if I needed to.

This is just some food for thought. It is how I retired and still lead an active life. Good Luck with everything.

God Bless,
Lillie

Hi everyone,

I deeply appreciate all of your helpful responses.  I've been agonizing about this decision for some time and that, in and of itself, is taxing.  I've been on a self-imposed reduced schedule like you, taking the days off of chemo and when I'm really feeling bad, taking that day off as well.  I've been blessed with not having so many really bad days, but I broke that record this past weekend when I had to make a trip to the ER.  (I'm okay now.) That and my counts are struggling more and more these days with bouncing back, a subtle sign.   I think making that trip put this battle, which has always been in my peripheral vision, right up in front of my nose, and made this decision a bit easier.  Still, making such a decision certainly comes with lots of emotion, and I've had my share of that this week. 

Thank you for your insight.
Adriana

Hi Adrianna,
This is a great topic.   After I was diagnosed in 2-08 my intention was to work throughout treatment, but after my second week at work following round one of chemo I noticed that after an afternoon of intense work I didn´t have the energy to go to yoga, a real source of sustenance for me in general and especially during treatment.  It seemed my energy was significantly lower, so with two kids (7 and 10 at the time) I was going to have to choose between work and thoroughly taking care of myself during treatment.  I chose yoga-meditation-walking and went on medical leave for almost 9 months.  When I decided to do this, and on my first day home, I cried my eyes out.  I have always loved my job and coworkers, and felt lost without this side of my identity active.  But soon, very soon, sooner than I ever in a million years would have guessed, I came to enjoy having my time freed up.   I had a weekly schedule of yoga, walks, lunches with friends, and of course more time with the kids.  This kept me pretty busy and happy.  As my energy returned, I started cooking and gardening, too.  I became obsessed with rocks, going to the quarry almost daily and dragging around huge strange stones all over my yard.  I planted my first vegetable garden, and tons of flowers.  Anyways, this story is I guess to say that you might  like having more time to play with more than you would guess.  The identity part might be more fluid than you realize.  I´ve been back at work full steam, with a new job even a of last July, since January of 2009.  I love my work and my colleagues, as much or even more than before.  But if I recur, I don´t know whether I´ll continue to work.   My work is very draining, so there are trade-offs that I decide in favor of work when I am healthy and it looks like I can reasonably expect many years ahead of me.  If conditions change and I can no longer expect the carpet of time to unroll to the horizon, these trade-offs might very well become unacceptable.    Anyways, this is how I reason about these things.  Maybe you could try taking a week or two off and see how it feels.  See how much you miss working.  Hopefully, if you let yourself be very still your body will tell you what to do.  Good luck with the decision.  Either way, it doesn´t have to be irrevocable.  You can change your hours, take more vacations, quit and return.  What does your family say?

love,
Denise


Edited by dmwolf - Jul 03 2011 at 10:45am

I was diagnosed with TNB in December 2009.  Six months before, I had started a new job as an attorney at a law firm after being in-house counsel for a private company.  My job and previous jobs are all very high stress.  However, very quickly, I was building a successful practice.  When I found out I had cancer, I really worried about what effect stopping working would have on my career.