My partner was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, stage 4. Initially we were told he had 18 months but a second opinion informed us he may have longer than that. First rounds of chemo were awful with such terrible side effects, he pretty much gave up. He is now on 80 percent chemo with infusion over 4 hours instead of 2. He is so tired and I am working full time. I try not to let him do a lot at home because of how tired he gets. He doesn't know really how exhausted I am. He knows I get tired (I have a few medical conditions but it makes me really tired on normal days). I feel I am meeting myself coming back. I find myself almost snapping at him for nothing. He is the most laid back, caring guy and I feel so guilty. He does absolutely nothing wrong and gives me no reason to feel like this. I have been advised to speak to my GP but worry if I get signed off I leave my colleagues (who have been so supportive) with my workload. I think if I got signed off I definitely wouldn't want to go back to work either.
Hi Nana4
Sorry to hear about what you are going through, it does sound very difficult indeed. You might like to either post in our Ask a Work Support Adviser expert group or ring the helpline here when you would be able to talk to one directly as they may be able to help you work out what you need both now and in the longer term.
One thing we sometimes talk about in terms of caring and work is how might you feel if someone else in your team were in your position - often we find we might be much kinder to someone else that we would ever be to ourselves.
<<hugs>>
Steve
