Lymphoma - continuing employment during treatment

[Sueblue]

This is very early days for me. I was only diagnose with Lymphoma 3 days ago, currently waiting for biopsy results and staging. I am currently off work as I have had a nasty saliva gland infection (which was how this cancwr was discovered), and am also recovering from an excision biopsy I had last night. I have a certificate for a month off of work, however I am worried because I have run out of sick leave and only have a weeks annual leave left. Because of this I would like to return to work in a week's time, and work whilst having treatment, at least part-time. Of course, this early on on the piece I don't know what my treatment will even be, or what type of NHL i have, I only know it is a B cell lymphoma that is in one spot on my neck (CT scan of neck, abdomen, pelvis is clear). Is working during treatment realistic? Or should I plan on not being able to work for a while? Also, I wondered how long treatment goes for - realise this would be different depending on circumstances though. I feel like my life has been turned upside down and I don't know where to start! I'll know a bit more next Tuesday when I get the biopsy results, however my supervisor needs to arrange other resources to cover me during time off, so I'd like to be able to give her some idea of what time I may need off. Any advice appreciated 🙂

[Mishy70]

Hi Sueblue, Like you I have a diagnosis of NHL and I've just had my 4th treatment of chemo which is called R-chop personally there is no way I could be working during treatment , I've been tired and achy which is worse days 1-7 and I have the chemo every 14 days ..day 1 being first day and days 5-14 recovery, days 1-5 are treatment days as I was on a course of steroids that finished day 5, I was also advised not to work as I work with children and well to put it nicely they are germ carriers and it's very important to try and avoid infections and viruses. I hope your treatment goes well rest when your body tells you.

[Sueblue]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Mishy. I've decided to wait until I know what my diagnosis is and what my treatment will be before I plan to return to work I'm still waiting for the biopsy results, it's very hard to stay patient! Once I have the results my doctor can refer me to the cancer clinic. If there is a wait for a clinic appointment (say 4 weeks) then I'd like to go back to work during that waiting time, however if the appointment is next week then I will wait till after that. I can understand why your doctor advised you not to return to work if you work with children. In 2008/2009 I worked in early childhood education. I was on immune-suppressant medication and used to catch so many things from the children, I've never been as sick in my entire life as I was then 🙂