Chemotherapy Diary - Cycle #4: Day 14
Day 14 of my mum's chemotherapy cycle was my Friday, or the last day of the week for which I would be in the office. Working a full time job in part time hours, this meant that I had a lot of work to do before I could in all conscious, forget about work and take care of my mum fully, for the rest of the week. On the days that I'm not working, I don't like to work. Now that may seem like common sense but in some organisations, there is a culture where employees' are expected to log on and check their emails or be expected to be available/ on call should the need arise. Just because you're part time, doesn't mean that the whole office is, right! For this reason, I try not to work on the days that I'm not expected to work. When my mum was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I was still working full time and trying to juggle being both a carer and the daughter of person who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. It did not work. I was terrified for my mother and scared for the future and could not concentrate at work. In turn, I felt guilty for sitting at my desk, not contributing to the company, earning my pay and jeopardising my career. At the same time, I felt I was wasting my time at work when I could be spending precious time with my mum that I would never get back again. To be honest, I still do. I don't think I will look back at my life and think "those 2 hours I spent in a meeting discussing working practices, that was the highlight of my life." But cancer costs' money. Macmillan Cancer have done research which show four in five (83%) people are, on average, £570 a month worse off as a result of a cancer diagnosis. This is because income goes down, in my case, I started working part time and expenditure rises at a time when money worries should be the last thing on people’s minds. These hidden costs include:
- dietary supplements and vitamins
- buying organic food
- pain relief such as epsom salts to bathe my mum's tired and aching feet, a side effect of chemotherapy
- a new wardrobe as my mum gained a lot of weight as a result of ascites and then subsequently lost a lot of weight
- waterproof plasters to keep her wound clean as she bathed
- fragrance free shampoo and soap
- equipment to monitor her health such as a blodd pressure monitor and thermometer
- and the list goes on....
Mx
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