back to work

Hi R,

            I went back to 1 day a week gardening 6 weeks after treatment, it was very tiring but in unexpected ways. I also am decorating the house and am self employed buying and selling antiques on line etc. Basically at the end of the gardening day my legs felt like lead, I could hardly walk 200 yds from the bus stop to home, I've kept it up though, and rested more than usual in between, been kinder to myself and taken it a bit easy, I have building projects on the go and have laid off the workers because I'm just overwhelmed by the daily decisions and if there is any confrontation I'm just useless and can't be bothered to be assertive, so I have postphoned that for now and am just taking it all in and taking it slower.

I'm 3 months on now and expected to be cured but I am not yet, there are after effects I didn't expect, even tho' the nurse said my biopsies were "fine"

I have brain fog, unfocused, distracted, hard to decide, less motivation and underlying tired miserableness, cognitive impairment ....

All my fingernails have ripped off across the top, in a white line, my skin is very dry, my hip is sore and my deep bum muscles are sore and weak. The nurse has no explanations at all, the doctor said no way can I have phisio but I will go private for phisio.

I am surprised by these long term effects too, I expected to slowly get better but am now experiencing this mysterious "fatigue" that was mentioned in the bumph, I sleep my 8 hrs a bit fitfully but ok, I'm not actually tired, it is "fatigue" can't concentrate, zonked out, a bit zombiefied.

Anyway, work ? i'm lucky to get my pension next year, £90 a week, jolly good.

Wishing you the best R, be good to yourself but don't eat too many sweets ! ...   X

Hi Beyond terrified, 

I did go back 6 weeks post treatment but only part-time & I can be seated at work, I only worked 4 hours per day 3 days a week to begin with & built things up from there this allowed for residual fatigue etc. Everyone is different & it depends a lot on the kind of work you’re returning to. At a little over 3 years post treatment & to be honest it’s still swings & roundabouts with hip pain for me, I had some osteoarthritis before treatment & I think the radiation has accelerated this & I’m fully prepared for hip replacement surgery at some point in the future! Like you sometimes, in the early days of my recovery, I felt as though I’d taken 2 steps forward & 3 steps back. Just take your time & don’t let anyone force a timescale onto you, this is a very personal journey & you need to this in your own time. 

Nicola

Hi Beyond terrified I returned to work after 4 months although I worked unofficially on/off throughout my treatment/recovery from home when I was able to.  It's just under an hour each way to travel to work so they let me do 2 days in the office and 3 days at home. The first week I was allowed to work a 5 hour day the second a 6 hour day before returning to full hours. As I was still stiff with walking and in some pain they let me park in a reserved bay for the first couple of months when I went into work to save the walk from the car park. You should have a return to work interview and you can ask for any adjustments you need when returning to work.  The tiredness wasn't too bad it was more the stiffness with walking, I felt about 103 years old. My toilet times could be a bit hit and miss in the mornings so I had to carefully time that drive to work with an emergency bag packed in the car in case I needed to go en route. Cancer is classed  as a disability under the Equality Act so your employer has  a duty to consider reasonable adjustments to allow you to return to work. Bev