I'm trying to figure out my work schedule need a reality check. I know everyone is different, but this is all new to me....I have not been to a medical oncologist yet, so I'm not sure about chemo. If I don't get chemo my treatment will be 5 weeks of radiation focusing on the right tonsil area and all draining lymph using IMRT. There would be 25 treatments. Then I would receive 2 weeks of radiation focused on the tonsil. 35 treatments total during 7 weeks. (T1N0M0, poorly differentiated SCC)
Right now I'm working part-time from home because I have been going to so many appointments and needed to make so many phone calls. I expected to work part-time during my treatment, which starts 2/20. I can do some work from home, but if I go to the office, that work requires a lot of talking. Will I be able to talk? I'm thinking it's not a good idea to be around germs. I can't imagine having a cough or cold during radiation. I have heard some people feel okay until their 3rd or 4th week of radiation. Then what? Is it reasonable for planning purposes to think I'm out 100% from week 4 until 3 weeks post-radiation? My employer is rescheduling a project based on my availability so I am trying to estimate. Of course I'm going to put my health first and I have no pressure from work to return sooner than I should (thank goodness). I just want to have a tentative plan and I wasn't sure if my talking might be limited.

Hi Simple Gifts. As you say everyone is different and there is no rhyme nor reason to it. I was an instructor/ lecturer and spoke all day everyday. Going through the radiation treatment about week six into it, I started to get the tiredness and the effects began. Dry mouth, sores and blotchy skin and I couldn't talk very long as my tomgue became swollen. I had a tongue disection and reconstruction plus a bunch of other stuff though, which it sounds like you are not. So listening to my fellow radiation companions you may just sail right through it from a talking point of view. The tiredness will come and go, you'll feel like a million bucks today and like you've been stampeeded the next. Don't push it or you will become sicker and the colds and germs will realy love you then. In truth I have not worked a full day or earned a wage since my surgery in 2006 almost a year it was supposed to be an eighteen week recovery. I work from home whenever I can and go into the college for a half day once every couple of months just to say hi and direct a couple of the instructors but thats it.No pressure to return from my employee either, thanks for that small mercy. I still haven't the energy to do a full day anything yet, but that's me. I hope you are the lucky one who bounces right back, but give it a chance and don't over do it. My talking days are done as my tongue still swells and I get mouth infections due to to the dry mouth constantly. You should fair much better so Plan away but remember we are are own worst enemy when it comes to work . We push ourselves too hard. Good Luck

Simple Gifts,

It's good to have a contingency plan, even if you end up not needing to use it. I had both surgery and radiation (conventional radiation, as IMRT wasn't even an option back then). My treatment didn't include chemo. While I felt increasingly worse by week 4 or so of radiation (mouth sores, swallowing problems, fatigue), I was still able to go to work about 5 hours a day. Much of the time while I was there, I kept my office door shut, which probably minimized my contact with germ-bearers. If you have the option of working from home, that's probably safer.

When I started to feel significant dry mouth problems (in the latter stages of radiation and for a long time thereafter), I found that my time limit for talking, such as in group presentations, was around 20 minutes. If I ended up in a position of having to run a meeting, I found that I had to team up with a colleague who could help lead the discussion when I reached my speaking limit. I'm sure you'll hear from other people whose experiences were somewhat different. Just remember that the effects of radiation keep on going for weeks after your treatment ends, so try to allow for that in your planning.

Cathy

Thank you for the replies. I'm a project leader so running meetings is pretty much what I do when I'm in the office and I have an active project. I don't want to set myself up for failure by over stating what I'll be able to handle. On the other hand, I don't want to be jobless because the larger, better funded projects were assigned to other leaders. I guess I'll just come up with a plan and it either will work or it won't.

Hi Simple Gifts,

FWIW, in the last few weeks of treatment, I couldn't speak at all. My throat had swelled so much that talking was impossible. I worked half days while getting treatment. I had a lot of support, people driving me and such. However, due to meds, morphine, oxycontin, fentynol, etc. I was not very effective. Hopefully, you have a close assistant that can help you. Just make sure you have a plan. I am two years out, and still get tired easily in the afternoon, but am gradually getting my full strength back.

Good Luck

Simple,

Remember we all react somewhat differently but the same, if that makes any sense.

My problems didn't start until week 3 of rad and didn't end until probably week 4 post rad (a seven week span). Being my own boss I was able to go to the office when I felt like it and work from my home when I felt like it and do nothing when I felt like it.

I did not meet w/ any client for about the last 5 weeks of that 7 week span. I really didn't feel mentally competant after say about week 5 of the beginning of Tx. I became pretty weak and nauseated in the last 4 to 5 weeks so I didn't even feel like working at home. I just felt like resting and sleeping. The last 3 weeks (the 3 weeks post Tx) were my worst which is pretty common.

After I started consuming 3000+ calories a day (week 4 post Tx) I rebounded quickly. My physical and mental strenght came back and I felt like going to the office. Half days turned to full days in a matter of weeks and soon I was working till 7:30 pm every nite. Now I stay later and don't feel tired at all.

I must say I felt terribly nauseated, mentally weak and physically weak for about 5 weeks and I was able to forget about everything except Tx and recovery. I think that helped me in the long run as I rebounded quickly. Other than minor taste issues and "getting better" dry mouth issues and minor hearing issues I feel as good as I did before Tx.

If you can, listen to your body and don't push yourself. In the scheme of things this is a very short period in the year much less our life. Your body will be under extreme attack from the cancer cells trying to grow; the damage the chemo and rad does to normal and cancer cells; the body using it's resourses to heal the damage and usually we don't give our body the proper water and food to do it's job. So our body is pretty much in a stressed state and we don't need to make it worse.

I'm not certain my experience is relavant since I had XRT and no chemo, but I will reply and remember everone is different. I survied 9 radiation treatments working full time and then 'went down for the count due to thrush'. I was running high fever and could not get warm. Hit the bed for 6 weeks(not a good idea, take a walk around the block). Went back to work 3 weeks after treatment ended but far too soon and did not have to talk, used email instead. 5 to 6 weeks would have been better return time. I never got my voice back after rad to the point I could talk on phone for any length of time, although may people do.

If your company is making you make a 'game plan', I'd give myself the longest time you can possibly get away with after treatment and surprise them by coming back early.

Take care,
Eileen

Between thrush, infections, weigh and muscle loss, inability to concentrate or focus, depression, PTSD and other issues I was pretty much disabled for about 2 years. Some here (although in the minority) drove themselves to treatment every day (I could not do that) and a few even continued to work - but that is even rarer.

My contingency plan was an equity line of credit on the house and it went in about 6 months. I also qualified for SSDI which helped. We came perilously close to bankruptcy, in fact my wife filed personal bankruptcy because her business was pretty much killed because of her having to caretake me.

You may have not as severe an experience but my thoughts are always to plan on the worst case scenario - the worst that could happen is that you are over prepared.

Realistically the worst time period for radiation/ct is about half way into treatment (2-3 weeks) and a month or 2 post Tx. The 2-3 week period AFTER Tx ends is when you will finally bottom out. The general rule is one MONTH of recovery for every WEEK of radiation. I was healthy and tried to fight it but it was the reality for me. And that amount of time is just enough to be marginally as effective as you were pre Tx.

As you mentioned germs are very dangerous post Tx because the immune system is trashed and many of us lost our voices for a time as well.