Like many people here, I had less difficulty recovering from surgery than dealing with radiation. I had the surgery first (modified neck dissection and partial glossectomy) and was back to work -- also an office job -- after about 2 1/2 weeks.

I was determined to keep working as much as possible during radiation, and for the first couple of weeks of treatments it was going pretty well. I didn't have chemo, so I didn't have the nausea that many people experience from that part of the process. By about weeks 3 and 4 of radiation, the unpleasant side effects really started to kick in (mouth sores, thrush, eating problems, etc.). However, I was still working part time and driving myself to and from the hospital for the remainder of my treatment period. Even though I had conventional radiation, rather than IMRT, I think my overall experience was better than some because of the absence of chemo (it wasn't a routine part of the protocol back then).

As Nelie said, you should probably plan for the worst but hope for the best in trying to set up the arrangements for your father. Have some contingency plans in case he finds that he really can't tough it out at work while this is going on.

Cathy