Postby newmexico » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:00 pm
Update on situation: it just kept getting worse. I was required to draft my own "performance improvement plan", which I did, before the deadline, and I tried to keep working. But, I realized I no longer had any perspective where this situation was concerned. My mind was racing, jumping all over the place, coming up with one "solution" after another, deciding on one course of action, then, 15 minutes later, deciding on another.
Around the same time that the "performance improvement plan" was due, I saw my primary care physician for something unrelated to my cancer and she was HORRIFIED that I was still working, and in a stressful job to boot (tangent: aren't all jobs inherently stressful?) She told me that I needed to prioritize my health and that she would write me a letter, call my employer, whatever I needed in order to reduce my work stress. And I hadn't even told her what was going on at work, just that I was working!
I thought about it for a few days and, on the recommendation of not only my primary care doctor but also my oncologist, decided to go on continuous Family Medical Leave (I had only been taking it intermittently for oncology appointments) to get some rest and get out of the pressure cooker for a while. I've been off work for two weeks and I am looking at my options. My paid leave will run out in three weeks but I believe I still have about 7 weeks of job-protected leave left.
It's difficult. My job was GREAT and I loved it. I made a very good salary. If I manage to keep working there for ten more years, I can get a pension through my state's retirement system. My job provided the health insurance that I (and my family) count on. It has been the focus of my life for 15 years.
I'm a Stage IIIa, about 2/3 of the way through my adjuvant chemotherapy. The work stress had kept me from taking good care of myself recently. Junk food, overeating, bad TV. Not spending time with my youngest child, who is only eight. My post-surgery PET scan showed no evidence of metastasis, so I probably have a pretty good chance.
We don't need as much money as I was making, but we need more money than what my husband makes (he would be fine if I died, with my pension, SSI and life insurance).
I hope I figure it out soon.
Thanks for everyone's support.
53 year old female
Mom of three, ages 30, 26 and 10
Tumor in sigmoid colon found 12-2013
LAR 1-14-2014, 1/16 nodes, dx Stage IIIa CC
6 months adjuvant Xeloda, finished 8-28-14
Two years out, so far, so good