I was just wondering. I know it's never a good time to get cancer, but why does it have to happen while I'm starting my new graduate school program? It's bad enough I have to go through these horrid treatments, now I have to figure out whether I have to postpone school for another year (which I've already done), or try to slog through it. But, anyways, is it possible to hold down a job or go through school while going through TX? Has anyone done it? What would you guys recommend? I can try and work with my professors to see what they say as well.

You will hear this phrase over and over during and after your treatments..... Everyone is different and will respond in their own way to things. This is especially true when asking about things like how you will fare thru your treatments. Hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones who sails right thru everything barely noticing the side effects. You sound like you are young which is to your advantage at getting thru this easier.

Most of us were not able to work (or drive) during treatments. A few were able to handle jobs where they were not physical, office type things. But even those who did manage to work usually they had to cut back to only working part time.

As far as school goes, that is another story. Your classes probably require lots of concentration which you may not have when going thru treatments and recovery. There really is such a thing as "chemo brain" which makes it difficult to handle technical or complex thinking. You can read the same paragraph 3 times and not understand what the meaning is when you are going thru everything. Grades will also have a long life of their own and one bad grade can wreck havoc on your GPA. If I had to give you a guess, I would suggest taking off from school for the period of time you are being treated and about 5 or 6 weeks afterwards. Recovery can take a very long time, maybe 2 years for a complete recovery. Most of us were much better after about 6 weeks post treatment.

Hope this was a help. Wishing you all the best with everything!!

I would second the taking a break thing if at all possible. I work as a writer and so need my concentration skills intact. Even just having rads (as if that isn't enough) with no chemo, I found I had to stop working a few weeks in. I physically couldn't sit at the computer for more than 10 minutes, let alone do any meaningful work.

Anyway, food for thought. Your body may of course react entirely differently. Keep us posted and ask all the questions you can think of. Welcome to the OCF family.

I would recommend putting school off for a year. You may feel good for few weeks and then you lose concentration and judgment. I worked full time the first few weeks. I became a zombie week two and did not trust myself. Better safe than sorry in my opinion. Also pain meds will affect your life and outlook.

Damn, I did not want to hear these things. It's bad enough that I took a few years off of work to change careers by going back to school (I'm nearly 40), but taking another year or two off for cancer treatments. It's just not fair.

Well, I THINK I will try to finish at least this semester since we're already a quarter of the way through. But, if the chemo is really bad, I don't know. The schooling, so far, has been quite easy. I think I could literally do it with half a brain.

But, please, keep the stories coming. I need more advice. Also, one other thing. I may need a bilateral neck dissection. I have multiple hard lymph nodes. How long will recovery from that typically be? I don't know how I will show up in school with Frankenstein stitches up and down my neck.

Whoa! A year or 2 off? That sounds a bit excessive. I would have to guess and say you might need a 5 or 6 month delay, at the most one year but I would doubt you would need 2 years of a delay. Im sorry if I confused you with my previous post stating a complete recovery can take your body a full 2 years. That does not mean that at 3 or even 6 months post treatment that you wont be feeling pretty good; it means you will still see some more improvements all the way until about the 2 year mark.

Its not as bad as you are expecting. Do some reading both here and on the main OCF pages to help educate yourself. You want to be an informed patient who can advocate for yourself and easily navigate thru all the medical jargon when the time comes.

Hi,
My husband got through his therapy about as well as possible, taking about a week and a half off completely, and working somewhat less than a full schedule for maybe three weeks. However, his chemo was not platinum-based, and did not cause the fogginess that cisplatin or carboplatin generate in some people.

If you are determined to complete this semester talk to your academic counselor first and find out what your options are for dropping one or more courses if you need to. Also talk to your profs - ask about late submissions, making up tests, and so on. Finally, do you have friends that can take class notes for you?

I don't think doing grad school in the middle of treatments is necessarily the best idea, but if you do decide to, make darn sure you have all your ducks in a row and a REALLY good support team.

Another issue is the possibility of infection with a weakened immune system - maybe you don't want to be sitting in classes when cold and flu season starts.

About the stitches - they are probably the least of your worries.

Best wishes whatever your decision.

Maria

Are you having chemo? That can lower your immune system, and being around people, public places, can increase the risk of infections, which can be deafly in some cases, be worse than the treatment itself, delay or stopping it too. so limited exposure and precautions should be taken. Good luck.

When does this quarter finish?

First off you don't really have a complete diagnosis as far as I can see therefore no one has even suggested a treatment plan so you may be able to finish this qtr but IMO there is NO WAY you should attempt to take courses during what I imagine your Tx will be, concurrent radiation and chemo. IF that's what you end up doing then for most of us we have 7 weeks of a rough time (from the 4th week of Tx till the 3rd week post Tx). Even after we walk out of that dark Tx tunnel (around the 3rd week post Tx) most of us are weak as a kitten for a few months so I can't see you being able to benefit from trying to educate yourself during this time.

[quote=undiagnosed]I was just wondering. I know it's never a good time to get cancer, but why does it have to happen while I'm starting my new graduate school program? It's bad enough I have to go through these horrid treatments, now I have to figure out whether I have to postpone school for another year (which I've already done), or try to slog through it. But, anyways, is it possible to hold down a job or go through school while going through TX? Has anyone done it? What would you guys recommend? I can try and work with my professors to see what they say as well.



[/quote] [quote=undiagnosed]I was just wondering. I know it's never a good time to get cancer, but why does it have to happen while I'm starting my new graduate school program? It's bad enough I have to go through these horrid treatments, now I have to figure out whether I have to postpone school for another year (which I've already done), or try to slog through it. But, anyways, is it possible to hold down a job or go through school while going through TX? Has anyone done it? What would you guys recommend? I can try and work with my professors to see what they say as well.



[/quote] [quote=undiagnosed]I was just wondering. I know it's never a good time to get cancer, but why does it have to happen while I'm starting my new graduate school program? It's bad enough I have to go through these horrid treatments, now I have to figure out whether I have to postpone school for another year (which I've already done), or try to slog through it. But, anyways, is it possible to hold down a job or go through school while going through TX? Has anyone done it? What would you guys recommend? I can try and work with my professors to see what they say as well.



[/quote] I, like you was diagnosed at a really inconvenient time. I was a full time preschool teacher and in a musical ( I do a lot of theater). I worked for about 3 weeks during treatment then one day got really pale and faint and started vomiting and I didn't see my job again for 6 months. I had no energy and was steadily losing the ability to eat normally and then for 5 months after treatment I could only force boost shakes with added fat.
But everyone is different. A phrase, like someone else said, you're going to hear over and over again. I was considered an anomaly. I was the first patient my very experienced oncologist had seen who took so long to recover. I had really awful Micositis and was bed ridden. Towards the end before I inadvertently found out I didn't need to hold the magic mouth wash in my mouth all day by a small accidental overdose on pain meds (I was on so many and so high in the sky I couldn't remember if I had taken them or not) I looked like an anorexia patient.
But I've spoken to people who worked right thru the whole thing.
I'm still recovering a year later. I can eat way more normally than I could in the beginning but they're are still those foods I take a risk on and injure my tongue or my mouth feels like I coated it in gasoline and lit a match.
My personal advice would be to just put everything on hold until you're into the treatment for a while and know what you have to work with.
When I wasn't going mental I utilized my time to do thing my full time job and theater wouldn't allow me to do.