Hello

Hello Richard

Welcome to the Online Community.

I am sorry to see that you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and hope that by sharing on here you will find support from others who are going through a similar experience. 

When I was diagnosed with cancer last year I felt incredibly guilty to begin with for taking time off work. My work was very supportive and did not put any pressure on me but it is was hard as I normally worked fulltime and I knew that by being off it would increase work load for others. To have some time off to prepare for a cancer operation and then some time to recover is something that just has to be done. Work needs you healthy and recovered and you need time for this. Pushing yourself to work at this time would not be good for anyone. I tried to think of it along the lines of if somehow I had managed to go in- I would not have been in a fit state to do my role and would probably gone home anyway. By taking time now it is probably easier for your work as they know you are off for a period of time and that they can make plans so that your colleagues and clients are covered. Work will still be there when you get back- I was told!

I will pop a couple of  links here that may help..........

How a cancer diagnosis might affect your work | Macmillan Cancer Support

Ask a Work Support Adviser - Macmillan Online Community- On this part of the website you can ask specific work related questions and get advice if you need it at anytime in the future.

Hope this helps

Jane

Thankyou so much for your email Jane , that really helps knowing that it is important to have time off to prepare for the operation as well as recovery time , you have other interesting and good points too , Richard 

Hi Blades 

I have had a similar experience. I was diagnosed with cancer and needed surgery. I worked up until the isolation period for the surgery despite being in terrible pain at times and obviously being very distracted. Work piled on the tasks as I was going to be off. I was even promising I'd be back after a shorter recovery period. To cut a long story short, my cancer wasn't the simple case I'd been advised and it has ended up that I have not been able to return to work. It took a long time to come to terms with this as I was a bit of a workoholic, led a team and was very driven. By clicking on my username you can read my profile. It is a good idea to write a profile yourself as it saves you repeating yourself.

It is hard to do but put all aspects of work out of your mind and focus on yourself and getting well. In the end, my colleagues, manager and HR were very supportive and wanted the best for me but in the end, it's just work and I was easily replaced. Best wishes to you for your surgery and recovery.

A x

Its a big thing, all of this. You sometimes need to take time out for you and to focus on your health. My feeling was that if I struggled on and tried to do what I was not fit to do, it would probably lead to me taking more time off in the long run. Good luck with your surgery

Thankyou for your message SisterMoon , I have read your profile and you have done so well getting through to where you are now , that’s a huge achievement for you x Yes as you say it’s hard to put work out of the way and focus on getting well , but you have managed to put yourself first and are moving on despite how hard it must be for you . Thankyou for your wishes to my surgery , I will put a profile piece on hear as you said it saves repeating myself , best wishes in your recovery , Richard x

Thankyou for your surgery wishes , I wish you well in your recovery , Richard x

I have cut out milk to the diary free versions of almond and coconut milks , I lost a lot of bloating on my stomach due to this , also cutting down on chocolate and biscuits containing milk helped too , as well as cheese I hope you get your diets worked out for you . You may be best cutting a bit down at a time to suit you ? Richard