working while on R-CHOP

Hi  and welcome to the Online Community, although I am sorry to see you finding us.

I am Mike Thehighlander and I help around our various blood cancer groups - BTW we also have a dedicated Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma group.

You can have a look at my story by hitting my forum name and you will see that I had a different type of of NHL and chemo treatment (R-EPOCH) although these treatments do pan out basically the same and for most folks find R-CHOP very do-able

I was a retired FE Lecturer but working as a self employed joiner and I have to say that for me - no way could I have worked but I was in my late 50s when it all kicked off and also the R-EPOCH had me in hospital for 5 days for each of the 6 treatments........but R-CHOP will not require this time frame.

Some of the issues you can face could be Nausea but on the whole there are meds that your team can give you to over come this. For me the Fatigue was the biggest challenge, interestingly keeping active can help the fatigue but I often did sleep in the afternoons. The fatigue will increase as the treatment goes on.

Avoiding Infections is a big challenge as the chemo will reduce your immune system for a good number of days following treatments and infections can be a big problem - this needs to be controlled as a small cold to one person is a hospital stay for you.

You do need to watch what you Eating and Neutropenia as you may well be told that you are on a pregnant woman diet. I also had long lasting issues with Peripheral Neuropathy.

Money issues can be an unfortunate part of a cancer journey. You may find our various Macmillan Support Line Services to be helpful - call them on 0808 808 00 00 This free service covers Financial Support and Work Guidance mostly open 8.00 to 8.00 but check the link.

Navigating the benefit journey needs support from an expert so check if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area or a Maggie’s Centre as these folks are amazing and CAB can also help you.

I am sure that some of the others will be along to give you their thoughts on working through treatment.

Keep posting as we can walk this with you.

I was 61 when I was diagnosed with burkits,working was impossible due to fatigue, 12 months in to remission and I have had to take early retirement on medical grounds,I never managed to get any financial help as we have too much capital and I can manage my day to day activity best of luck with it allb,however you might find that want you want to be able to could be unrealistic 

thanks for your comments gents.   if it helps i am only 39.   had a sedentary job for many years but have been working my current position full time for the last 15 months or so and really enjoy being on my feet all day.   nausea and fatigue are the only things which are concerning me right now i just hope i can find a pattern of work which is possible and slowly get back to normal when the treatment finishes.   on the plus side my work is open 7 days a week so there are always hours that need filling when i am feeling able just would like to be able to give them some kind of pattern so they can schedule around me... 

I would always say ‘expect the unexpected’

just a little update on my story.   i had my first round of R-CHOP and now just a few days away from my second.    i stayed mostly bed bound and relaxing for the first five days but on the 7th day i was fit enough to go out for a meal with friends and by the 8th day i was well enough to work as normal, but still with the warning to my work that if it wasn't working out i might need to take a time out or switch to some lighter work. 

everyone at my work was very happy to see me and so far i haven't lost my hair although fully expecting this with the second cycle.   i did shave it down pretty close before i started to make the change less dramatic but so far just got lots of compliments on my new "look"... 

had a blood test at the hospital on day 11 which they said was satisfactory to continue the treatment plan on schedule so as long as everything is still clear on day 22 we will go again...

also my pet scan result was good enough that they said i will only need 3 cycles instead of 6 so very happy to be nearly halfway through the treatment plan already...

Hi again, this sound like good progress indeed well done.

As winter draws in the one thing to watch out for is catching infections, especially in the week following your treatment.

I do hope that you are able to join in the Christmas activities.......I have no memories of Christmas 2015 apart from what I am told.

Akl the best and keep posting.

well today i went back to work for my first shift since round 2 (30th day of treatment if 1st treatment was day 1, 2nd treatment cycle began on day 23).   and after 3 or 4 hours i was feeling like it was maybe a mistake as for sure round 2 has been a little tougher than round 1 but my colleagues let me take an extra 10 minute timeout and i got some ice cream and an energy drink and then managed to power through the rest of the night much better.   my team mates also helped a lot to leave me with a bit less share of the physical workload but i tried to do as much as i could as i know they have all been working super hard in my absence as it is our busiest season of the whole year right now and everyone is struggling with the workload. thankfully the way the shift pattern has fallen i have the weekend off and four morning weekday shifts next week so i feel like i will be 2 days more recovered in my cycle and also the work is slightly less physical in the daytimes than the night times.

seeing much more hair loss of my body hair but so far not more from my head.      2 down only one more to go and very happy about that !

Well done you, the effects are indeed accumulative over the cycles so you may find the fatigue to increase but as we always say activity some of the fatigue under control.

Here’s looking for a healthy 2020.

well I am done with my cycles now, definitely feeling more fatigued still even coming up to 20 days since the last cycle but already had a planning appointment for some radiotherapy treatment which looks like it will begin in the first week of february.   at the planning appointment I had a CT scan with iodine contrast and after a little prodding the hospital suggested the results from the R-CHOP alone are very promising so definitely feeling like most of the journey is done now.   just trying to co-ordinate with my work to fit around the forthcoming appointments but the plan is complete all the sessions, have a couple of weeks pause and then another PET-CT scan and a final clinic appointment to get an official result...   then it is up to me to get my fitness back to where it was before this all started... 

Hi, sounds like you have it all sorted ... re fatigue it can linger for a while so start with gentle exercise and see how it goes, as each of us are different you may well bounce back to a reasonable level the way some do. We have had a few runners and cyclists over the years who have returned to what they did pre treatment.

John