Teaching through CAPOX

FormerMember over 4 years ago

3 replies
119 subscribers
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Hello,

So I was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer just before Easter. It was a HUGE shock as I had gone to A and E thinking that I was constipated and they dropped the C Bomb. An emergency op has got rid of the tumour (hooray!) and now I need 3 months of adjuvant CAPOX to mop any naughty cells up.
I teach children with additional needs and have been off since the end of March. I am desperate to go back as I miss the kids so much. The onocolgist and surgeon both said as long as I was careful and listened to my body, I could , even if it's part time.
Please can I ask any other teachers to share their experiences of teaching through chemo. I have a meeting with HR/Welfare and with Occy Health. I won't be doing personal care or positive handling

Thank you and lots of love x x

Kareno62 over 4 years ago

and Are you able to help please? X

Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm

FormerMember over 4 years ago

Ah I'm not a teacher but I do work with younger people in an advisory capacity and have continued to work f/time through surgery and chemo. You just have to be sensible about it. I work from home when white blood cell count at it's lowest and do the very low maintenance admin side of my job on days 1-4 as Capox is a bit of a shovel to the face!!

FormerMember over 4 years ago

Hi there,

Karen asked me to share my experience. I worked in a special school with secondary age pupils with SEMH. I took the decision to stay away from the school environment as many of my pupils were very deprived and I felt that the risk of viruses and infections were too risky to my health and could have jeopardised my treatment. I was transparent with the pupils as many had suffered loss and I didn't want them wondering why I had disappeared with no idea why. I remained in contact with them, sending the occasional video and they would write to me, obviously keeping certain boundaries. When I was not in treatment or recovering I returned to work when possible.

It's a personal choice how to manage these difficult choices, for me my physical health was paramount.

Hope that is helpful

Martin