To Work Or Not To Work During Cancer Treatments, That Is The Question
If there is one word that I would use to describe myself as an employee, or at least I used to be able to in my healthier days, is reliable. In my nearly forty years of employment, many of those years I earned awards for “perfect attendance,” taking time off only that was granted for personal time or vacation time. But during the time that I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma back in 1988, my reliability was put to the test. I was able to arrange most of my surgical appointments for biopsies and such not to take the entire day, with the exception of one. The challenge would be during my treatments.
For my radiation treatments, thirty of them over six weeks, would occur Monday through Friday and off the weekends, which took all of a total of five minutes on the table for the linear accelerator each appointment. I missed only the first half hour of work, which I made up at the end of the day. With my chemo treatments, it was a little more complicated because I did not know how my body would react to the treatments, but I was able to arrange my treatments to be given Friday afternoons. I would leave work a couple of hours early, have my injections, and have the weekends to recover. This would be a cycle of two weeks on treatment, two weeks off which I would work my normal hours. I missed no other time, something I know my boss appreciated.
Up until my cancer diagnosis, I would describe myself as someone who got along with everyone. I say “up until” because something changed and I do not think it was with me. I noticed some of my co-workers had begun grumbling around me, and it had gotten back to me. I felt confused, and quite hurt. After all, I was the one dealing with cancer, yet they were acting as if they were the ones being impacted. I was actually being accused of “getting favored treatment”, though no examples were ever given. Jealousy? Envy? These feelings would escalate throughout my treatments. I never understood why. I do know, it was an extra burden on me, dealing with cancer, as if I did not have enough to deal with.
A question that comes across my social media feeds often, is “do I work during my treatments?” Back in 1990, after ending my treatments I honestly believe, had I needed to do it all over again, I likely would have opted not to work rather than go through the stress and abuse I felt was thrown at me. Of course, there was one issue standing in my way of having that option, money. I was married then, and we had rent and bills to pay. Giving up my salary would have left us financially in such a hole. Not always practical in these days, I usually tell cancer patients asking the “work” question, unless you have five to six months savings stored away to rely on, you are going to need to do all you can to earn an income.
There are some other options available to enable at least some assistance. For instance, when it comes to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and any blood cancer, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has grants available to assist with direct expenses related to that cancer. And it is likely that other cancers have organizations that provide similar financial assistance. Social Security Disability is another possibility, though not as likely. There are restrictions, and unfortunately the process is time consuming, so, unless you started the process prior to even knowing you had cancer, you are likely to complete treatment before you even got an answer either way. Also, the definition and description of what keeps you unable to work are difficult to meet. I am unfamiliar with the option of coincidentally or conveniently being “laid off” from work, able to collect unemployment compensation, other than the need to have worked enough time prior.
For me personally, I wanted to work. If for nothing more, my work day would provide a much needed distraction that if I sat at home all day, my cancer would be all I would think about. Of course, I would much rather have preferred not having to constantly defend myself at work, for things said of me that were not only untrue, but for everything else I currently had no control over. My focus on having cancer actually ended up worse remaining at work. Would I do it that way again if I had to do it all over? I really do not know.
There are other factors to consider in whether to work during treatments. Radiation and chemotherapy will likely kick your tail with fatigue. There will be good days, and there will be bad days. Overdoing it on good days can lead to crushing bad days. Finding balance can be difficult. The important thing is to give yourself a break when fatigue hits, especially emtionally because your body is going through a lot.
Finally, and probably the most important factor to consider whether to work or not, is exposure risk. What does this mean? It is something you have no control over because you depend on others to make the right decisions, and often times they will not. I am talking about co-workers who come into work sick, or another example would be teaching a class with students who come into school sick. The Covid19 pandemic brought major attention to the ramifications of contracting an illness with an upcoming treatment. And it does not matter if it is Covid19, the flu, or strep throat, an infection, contatgious or not can be devastating mentally to a cancer patient when you are told you cannot receive your treatment as scheduled because blood counts are too low. This happened to me during my second to last treatment, delaying the date I had written on my calendar as my goal to finish treatments, and it did not happen. And if it were something to be contagious, the oncology office will not want to risk the other patients health by having you come in.
But it never fails, there is that one co-worker that comes in, nose-running, coughing all over the place and everyone. To a cancer patient, this creates the dilemma whether they themselves will have to leave work for their own protection due to the ignorance of the co-worker not staying home. I know this first hand. A co-worker had come in, announcing that she had strep throat, which is highly contagious. I protested to my boss about my risk and was told, “what do you want me to do? She doesn’t want to go home.” So I made the decision to go home, which ended up being without pay as I had already used up my sick pay at the beginning of my Hodgkin’s journey. But I did not come down with strep, which could have been very bad for me on several levels.
I would like to think that all of these negative behaviors would have improved over 34 years, but I can say that I at least have not seen that. When I had to have emergency open heart surgery back in 2008, initial concern by my co-workers soon turned to petty jealousy and envy by some of my co-workers, consumed that they felt I should have been returned back to work sooner than what my doctors were directing. So, I doubt there would be any mercy for cancer patients either.
I have given you a lot of factors to think about when it comes to working during treatments or not. Only you are going to know your personal situation, and even though you may know the potential for any co-worker conflict or not, it still may be unpredictable. But you need to do what is going to be best and safest for you, the goal to get through your treatments, and hear the word remission.
Paul's Heart 