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Chemo Infusion reaction day of chemo: Does it affect future infusions?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Aug 31, 2022 | Replies (8)Comment receiving replies
@texasduchess - I had chemo 30 years ago for 6 months. Every 2 weeks. Initially I thought I could be strong and continue working as normal. I soon realized that I couldn’t, so I thought I could work 2 weeks and be off 2 weeks after chemo. It qualified as part time disability. Towards the end of the 6 months I was very worn down and my counts went lower.
After the fact I realized I should just have taken 6 months off on full disability. Part time disability pay was also very low.
I was not very smart exposing myself daily to germs- I worked in Pediatrics!
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Well, when we're dealing with a very probably life-threatening illness, we're not in the best mind to make decisions ... and yet, we have to!
My job had long-term and short-term disability (the choice was dependent on how long your illness/treatment would take). My oncologist thought my admin (indoor, white-collar) job would be "doable" and that work would be good distraction during my rigorous treatment. (I have to admit being home alone after a COVID layoff has proven to me how wise he was about the necessity of distraction.) My short-term disability restricted me to NO MORE than 32 hours a week, but if I needed more time off, I could take it. And yeah, there was a financial hit as it only paid 65% of my salary—but it was a lifeline that I was very grateful for.
"I thought I could be strong ...." You never had chemo before, so you couldn't know. No one, unless they go through it, can know what it's like to have a treatment and feel the next day as though the stuffing's been knocked out of you and then, have to pick yourself back up and recover enough for it to happen again two weeks later. And with each treatment, you are down deeper in that hole and can only climb back up part of the way. I had a wonderful doctor and nurse, but I would not have made it without the support and care of my husband.