Unemployed and Diagnosed

[CoachDan]

I had my first colonoscopy almost 2 weeks ago after months of symptoms that seemed like hemmeroids. Since being told that a mass was found, things have moved fast and furious. I have distal rectal cancer. I am looking at radiation/chemo before surgery that will most likely leave me with a permanent colostomy. At age 47, I am upset that my life has changed forever but I plan on living many more years with my wife and 2 kids. I had a CT Scan yesterday and a marathon MRI due to a malfunctioning unit. They had to reschedule so I am still waiting on hearing news on the stage of my cancer.

I have many questions that I'm sure I will get to on this forum. I will start with my financial concerns. My job history is too long to get in to here, but it am an IT Manager that took a job last April that was not a good fit, paid much less than I made in my previous jobs, had a commute of over an hour and had awful benefits. It seemed like a better alternative to unemployment at the time. My symptoms started while I was working there, but my out of pocket costs kept me from going to doctors at first. When I did, they suggested going to a GI specialist but didn't seem concerned that it was anything more than hemmeroids. I was missing a lot of time at work because I was going on interviews and took a couple of sick days. When I lost that job, I was almost grateful. However, I found myself on unemployment again and without medical benefits. I had several great interviews and was told that I was the runner-up on a few occasions but did not land a job before my unemployment ran out. I guess this was a blessing as I was able to go on Medicaid and finally see the GI doctor.

Now my life and focus have changed on getting cancer treatment. But my financial trouble is not going away. I won't realistically be able to accept a job now. I would be afraid to lose the Medicaid benefits and not have new coverage start for up to 90 days. I have no idea how much time I would miss from a new job and I'm not sure how I would even approach the subject with a potential new employer. I will speak to the social worker at my cancer center and see about Social Security. I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas for financial assistance. I can't imagine what we will do if we lose our house while I battle this disease.

[Nik Colon]

Welcome to the forum, sorry for why you are here tho. Best wishes

[exaussie]

Hello
When my son was first diagnosed, he had to stop working. We were told when we went to our Department of health services was to apply for everything including food stamps. I will warn you its a big job-my daughter did his ss and I got him on state health. It took a few weeks. Be a squeaky wheel. I found it was better to go in person because you aren't just a number. If you can get help with this, then take it, you concentrate on your health and get going on whatever treatment you need to focus on.

[cathy123]

So sorry to have you join this group. I can sort of relate because I was diagnosed two weeks or so after my husband was laid off last fall ( I only worked a few hours a week and had started looking for full time employment but that quickly was put on hold). Cancer sure made unemployment look like not that big of a deal. Luckily we had cobra and savings to pay for it so I did have good insurance until he found a new job a month or so ago. But for awhile it looked like we may have to move so it still added a lot of extra uncertainty and stress.

I am going thru the same treatment as you outline. It is pretty much a year of treatments. Parts are tough but there have been extended periods that I feel pretty good. I know many work through this but I agree it would be a really hard time to start a new job. I am fine to work part time and take care of my kids, the house, etc though. I dont know your situation but is there any way your wife could get a job of some sort to get insurance and pay basic bills. I think you would qualify for social security disability if it ends up being stage 4 (which we certainly hope is NOT the case). I haven't heard if folks getting disability for lower stages though but certainly check it out. Best wishes!

[CLD]

My husband was diagnosed mid-January of this year. He works in construction, long hours on his feet, a job much too physical for how the side effects are affecting him. Plus, on the days he wears the fanny pack, the tubing and the pack itself would be a hinderance. So, basically my husband is collecting short term disability (hardly ANYTHING) that will run out a month before treatment ends. We have 5 kids and are expecting our 6th (I had to tell him I was pregnant in the hospital :/). So I feel your pain and I hear your fears. So many people in our community have put money in our mailbox anonymously. We also bit the bullet and applied for food stamps. I drive to the next town so no one sees me use the card. We applied for heat assistance but have not yet received a response. Do what you have to do to get through this. So far as applying for new jobs, my husbands onc told him to see how he reacts to the treatments before he tries to work. Maybe take a wait and see approach before you apply for new jobs. Also, you never know what complications may pop up. My husband now has 2 blood clots which they finally decided to treat, but the treatment requires constant blood work and sonograms. So you may have to take off more time than you anticipate. GOOD LUCK!!!

[sjring]

I'll add both my welcome to the board and condolences that you have to be here in the first place.

To echo other's thoughts, I wouldn't worry about work until you get staged, a treatment plan in place and see how you do with the treatment. The social worker is a good place to start to see what aid, over and above medicaid, you can apply for. Focus on you for the moment.

Sending good vibes.

[Nik Colon]

Wanted to add. Once you have more info, start treatment, see how you do, etc. you may want to look into ss disability if you are unable to work and it will be permenant. In the meantime you could look into state assistance.

[Rob in PA]

Whatever type of assistance you look into, do it in person. I got turned down online because i could not adequately explain that i own my own business and sometimes there are good months (income) and sometimes bad. They totally turned me down because of "anticipated" income. That was four years ago, and each year i have had mets reappear somewhere and have been out of commission. I finally took a friends advice and made an appointment with S.S. It took five weeks to get in! Butt, once i got in and explained my situation, it could not have gone any smoother! What would normally take up to six months to get a decision on, only took 7 days! I explained that I still want to work and not sit around worrying about some private eye documenting what i can and can't do. The S.S. person took the time to listen to my concerns and reassured me that they don't want me to sit around and to do what i can when i feel good. She said if i make income above my limit, to simply report to her and they can reduce benefits to partial or entirely if i make too much. She also said if i can't continue a pace of work that is above my s.s. limit, that i can simply ask for reinstatement.

Very painless process...in an otherwise long, and painful journey
Best to you.
Rob

[CoachDan]

Thanks for the advice guys. I am meeting with the social worker tomorrow. Hopefully she can point me in the right direction. I know that I need to focus on getting through the staging and starting treatment. I just hope that I don't have to worry too much about our financial situation as well. This is hard enough.

[PainInTheAss]

One more thing I would add is that in my state if you qualify for Medicaid based on your financial situation, you can still get coverage for one year after you no longer qualify. Talk to someone at the office where you get your benefits to find out how that works. If that's the case, you can get another job when you feel up to it without worrying about losing your benefits right away.

[CoachDan]

One more thing I would add is that in my state if you qualify for Medicaid based on your financial situation, you can still get coverage for one year after you no longer qualify. Talk to someone at the office where you get your benefits to find out how that works. If that's the case, you can get another job when you feel up to it without worrying about losing your benefits right away.

That would certainly be a big relief. When is the appropriate time to disclose my diagnosis with a potential employer?

[Bev G]

CoachDan,

I'm really sorry this is happening to you. There is a lot of talk from your friends here about disability, butt unless I missed something you have not yet been staged? You may find that you have a really low stage of CRC with excellent chance of a cure. I think it's great that you are meeting with the social worker and getting some ideas about what you may be able to do. Butt PLEASE, try to wait for your staging. Things may be much, much better than you are expecting. The waiting is so hard.

Best wishes to you,

Bev

[sjring]

When is the appropriate time to disclose my diagnosis with a potential employer?

I think the answer to that depends on your staging and your treatment status at the time you are talking to the potential employer.

Technically, you don't ever have to tell them. And if you are NED or not in treatment, I don't see that it's relevant to disclose. If you are in treatment, and will need time off then, at least for me, ethically I would need to say something. Again, it depends on the employer's process, but I would wait until I see there is a stong likelyhood that the position and company are a good fit and there is mutal interest.

[kellywin]

CoachDan - I can't add much about the financial assistance, but I want to echo what Bev & others have said, don't get too worried about not being able to work and you don't have a staging yet, so who knows at this point exactly what your treatment will be. I worked full time every day through radiation and no one knew. I never told anyone until I had a surgery date. I was out 2 months for surgery, but I honestly could have gone back to work in 4 weeks (I snow skied for 3 days exactly 4 weeks after surgery). I did have to take some days off around chemo, but some people do better with it that others. Also, you can schedule infusions late in the week, so that you can be back to work on Mondays. Also, as an IT manager you probably have some flexibility about working from home.

Also, please check around with a couple of surgeon's about the permanent colostomy. Make sure you have more than one opinion, some surgeon's specialize in low rectal tumors.

Sorry you have to join us, but welcome.

[PainInTheAss]

One more thing I would add is that in my state if you qualify for Medicaid based on your financial situation, you can still get coverage for one year after you no longer qualify. Talk to someone at the office where you get your benefits to find out how that works. If that's the case, you can get another job when you feel up to it without worrying about losing your benefits right away.

That would certainly be a big relief. When is the appropriate time to disclose my diagnosis with a potential employer?

My personal opinion is that once treatment is complete for stage I, II, and III, you are cancer free and there is no need for disclosure to anyone. If you start working during treatment, you are going to have to work around your chemo infusions, so this would need to be discussed once they offer you a job possibly during the interview to answer the question "Is there anything that might prevent you from coming to work?" Some people have no problems with chemo and others have all kinds of reactions/side effects. Employed chemo patients tend to do infusions on Thursdays so your worst day is Saturday. I used to do mine on Tuesday and I was useless on Thursdays and just slept for 24 hours. You go in the morning and it takes a half a day, so at the very least, you will need to take off a half day once every three weeks.