Returning to Work After Breast Cancer

Your doctor has cleared you to return to work. Now you must decide what to do. I have seen statistics at extreme ends of the spectrum detailing the number of women that return to work after breast cancer so this is one area that I do not feel comfortable in providing any statistical information. With that said, let’s take a look first at those who do not return to work.

“No one should be allowed to cross the line into someone else’s medical situation any more than any other personal aspects of another person’s life.”Barbara Jacoby

There seems to be two groups of women who do not return to their previous jobs. First, there are those who can no longer perform the work that they were previously doing before their breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Most likely, the work may have included lifting or other physical components that they can no longer perform.

But, for some, the cancer may have spread to other areas of the body thereby creating even further limitations for those whose work requires physical activity. Ideally, your employer will have a desk job to accommodate your limitations but this isn’t always the case. The search for a new job may not be easy so you may want to enlist all the help that you can get from friends, church groups, cancer organizations and your local unemployment offices if your own search is not producing the results that you need or expected.

Second, there is a group of people who do not return to their old jobs, by choice. These people have discovered that the work that they were doing may have been causing them too much stress or they were not doing the type of work that was fulfilling. In addition, there are those who feel that they have been able to save enough money to give up working their old full-time jobs and either retire, do part-time work or find a volunteer position that satisfies their needs to be out and meeting new people. For some, they may even elect to take time off to travel as they have always wanted and then return to work at some future time.

For many though, they will be returning to their previous jobs as soon as permitted. This may be because of financial necessity or the desire to be out and about again or they may be returning to work that they find fulfilling and meaningful to them. This brings about a whole new set of decisions to be made. You do have rights regarding the sharing of your personal information.

Your medical information and treatment is protected and no one may share anything without your permission. If you have requested that your information not be shared and you find that there has been a violation, you should report the incident immediately to your Human Resources office. If you do not receive satisfaction there, you have the option to take the matter to the Labor Relations Board in your area.

You may choose to have your fellow employees know about your breast cancer. If so, the manner in which they are informed is up to you. Some elect to have their employers inform the others in their immediate department before they return with the request that the matter not be discussed with others outside of that group. For some, they prefer to share as much as they want on an individual basis and for others, they are willing to discuss their experiences freely.

Regardless of whatever choice a person makes, it is the right of the cancer survivor to have others respect their wishes and decisions. It may be difficult for the person to deal with their own cancer and outcome without others creating increasing pressures to discuss it or rehash the details over and over again.

No one should be allowed to cross the line into someone else’s medical situation any more than any other personal aspects of another person’s life. And hopefully if you encounter someone treating the information of a cancer survivor or the cancer survivor themselves in an insensitive manner, please end the situation as quickly as possible. After all, if it were you, you would want the same respect.