Hi all,
I'm new on here and thus is my first post.
My mum has advanced breast cancer and is now on palliative care. Its really tough seeing her get more frail. Also she is getting confused sometimes.
We had a few spares over the summer, but she seems quite stable at the moment. Although, she does need lots of support. Luckily she has my dad, my brother and me, and we are coping at the moment.
I have my own family too, plus I'm studying for a masters degree, work full time and have recently had issues with a collegue at work who is making my time at work difficult. I going I have just been ploughing on, not stopping to think that soon my mum won't be around anymore.
I was nt sleeping much and this week my gp has signed me off sick for 3 weeks due to stress. However I'm struggling with the thought that I have had to admit I'm not coping and I'm worried how this will look at work. Should I just have soldiered on?Especially when I'm going to need more time off later once my mum nears the end of her fight.
Have other people had to take time off work? Did it help and were your work places supportive? Is it better to ask for help sooner rather than later?
Many Thanks
hi Daffodil B and welcome to the community though so sorry to hear about your mum.
I can certainly relate to what you say as I have had a number of occasions of time off due to stress. Most of my colleagues at work have been really supportive but often there is one person. Sometimes of course they have their own problems and might not have disclosed and think "well I can cope so why cannot you".
When I first heard the term palliative care I thought it meant the end might be really close - in fact it just refers to treating symptoms rather than disease. It is so easy too to think of "soon" without knowing what that means and often there is no way of knowing when the end might really be - I guess that goes with your "scares".
If it helps you it might be an idea to give our helpline a call and talk to our work support service. If you have it use your employers "employee support service" too and you may well have something similar with your college too.
Perhaps the biggest tip - take all the help you can get.
<<hugs>>
Steve
