Some of you may have read my message regarding my father

I think everybody has a different reaction to treatment and recovery, therefore it is a little difficult to predict how your father will do. I can tell you that my husband couldn't possibly work starting at about week three of treatment and continuing for about 4 months after. He really wasn't able to return to his old work schedule for about a year. But we have a friend with the exact same diagnosis as his who worked all through her treatments.

Hope your father is one of the lucky ones that has an easier time with treatments. The general rule that gets repeated here often - and was certainly true in our case - is to expect one month of recovery for every week of treatment.

Best to you and your father as you make your way through all this,
Anita

I think probably the wisest course is to plan for the worst but hope for the best. It is extremely variable.

I had a really hard time with the chemo and right from week 1 of my treatments I was unable to work much because I was dealing with chemo-nausea. I was actually teaching an online course at the time that ran for the first five five weeks of the seven weeks I had my treatment. I would get on whenever I felt well enough to sit in front of the computer and do the grading but I was a less than really responsive teacher that semester. And the only way I manged at all was having something to puke in nearby as I worked--it would have been a disaster if I'd tried to work in a face-to-face kind of job during that time.

After, I was also pretty sick for about 5 months (then once I started feeling better, I started radiation for the breast cancer which I was fighting at the same time and that made me exhausted all over gain).

But I think I had a much harder time than many folks here --I hope your father has an easier time of it!

Nelie

I agree with Anita & Nelie. No one can predict how they will react to all the treatments. I can tell you that Kenny (my husband) could not have possibly worked from week 1 of treatment through today (six months since last treatment). He had many, many complications. On the other hand, we met some people during radiation treatments that work all through two-a-days! You just never know.
Like Anita - I suggest that you plan for the worst & hope for the best. What will happen if he can not work (financial, physical & emotional support) - then if he can work, that's great! But have a plan. That was one of the most stressful parts of this -- not knowing what to expect and not having a plan of action.

Hang in there!
Carol

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

Thank you for your responses.

My father needs to work only because working is very therapeutic for him. I have no doubt he will recover quicker if he is able to work at least some.

Thank you all for your input, please keep them coming.

Scott

Scott,

I agree with you about the therapeutic part. Even when I felt terrible, going to work for part of the day was something "normal" that I could grab hold of to try to take my mind off of the treatment routine. I hope your father will be able to keep at it as well.

Cathy