Hi MandaRe,
I'm also a teacher on Staten Island and will be taking a medical sabbatical for 6 months while I'm recovering from surgery and go through chemo/RT. I did not know that my retro will be held back if I'm not at work. How can that be legal when it's money we already earned?

I do recommend taking the time off during treatment. When I went through RT the first time I was very tired and wanted to sleep all the time. Looking back it seems like a blur. I can't imagine how you will feel doing it with chemo. Most importantly, our little ones carry so many germs. Last year I went back to work and one of my students came down with Fifth disease. Good thing I was not going through treatment and must already had immunity toward it. You never know what they may be carrying. One of my students was sick for weeks. One day I was helping her and she coughed right in my face. A week later I had my first cold for the school year. Infection was oozing out of my eyes. Sorry for being so descriptive.

It is great that your speech is back! Especially with the tumor covering 90% of your tongue. Did you have surgery to remove or just chemo?