Going back to work

Former Member over 5 years ago

2 replies
30 subscribers
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Hello,

Last November i was diagnosed with a massive rare form of borderline ovarian tumour that turned my world upside down. I had a planned open abdominal surgery in the pipeline but was rushed into hospital before my surgery as the tumour started to rupture and was cutting off my kidneys and had destroyed my ovary. This has been one of the most difficult periods of my life but finally after a long recovery post surgery that has been made even longer by Covid, the time is fast approaching for me to soon go back to work.

With the national lockdown and covid I have barley seen anyone for almost 5 months now and i dont know if im on my own here but i kind of feel like iv been stuck in a sort of time warp. Everything that has happened has been incredibly hard to process (even more so as im only 27) and because of this isolation i have been in the idea of going back to work right now is incredibly daunting but at the same time I cannot wait as it will help me regain some normality.

I basically wanted to reach out and see if anyone has got any advice with returning to work after such a thing. My boss hasnt exacty been the most understanding person throughout all of this and right now the idea of the barrage of questions I am going to get from collegues when i go back is massively daunting........i mean what the hell am i supposed to say other than i am getting through it and im alive?!

I really dont know if im ranting here but any shared stories or advice given would be a massive help x

Former Member over 5 years ago

Oh my word, that sounds utterly traumatic! I ended up having 7 months off work, then a phased return over 3 months to get me up to full time. I’m really lucky that I have a generous employer and a fantastic boss - in fact she was worried that it might be ovarian cancer before I was!

My colleagues all know why I was off, but don’t know the details, So I think they think it’s basically in the past now. And in one way they’re right - I had surgery and chemo and think I’m all clear at the moment - but they have no idea what it’s like to live with that diagnosis and the fear and expectation of recurrence. And of course I don’t want to say much or anything about that because I want to just be Me, not Me-With-Cancer when I’m at work.

i think the questions depends so much on what your colleagues are like. You just need to decide what you’re comfortable sharing - anything from ‘I had some health issues but they’re under control now’ to full details of everything - it’s up to you. If anyone pushes for more than you want to share, I recommend looking astonished and saying ‘wow, that’s a very personal question!’ or ‘I’d really rather not talk about it at work - I’m sure you understand’ or whatever kind of polite refusal you’re comfortable with

good luck - I hope your return to work goes well x

Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Hello, thankyou for reaching out to me.

Yeh its been quite a bumpy ride and even now i still have times i really do struggle with it all. Thank you for your advice, initially i was quite private about what was going on with me when i was being tested and before i was diagnosed. Now since my surgery i decided to be very open with it all, if anything more so i can try understand it myself! ha. I think that is half the battle with me as everything is just so unknown and such a massive adustment in life,

I suppose only time will tell with how it will go, im just so glad that this platform is here. It really has helped me at times just to talk to people in a similar situation. I hope you are doing ok! x

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Going back to work