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Comment by glonq | Hacker News Reader

Today that "chemo brain" is a thing.

Unfortunatey, last week I learned that I'm starting chemo in a few weeks.

I had hoped to WFH during rads & chemo in a slightly diminished capacity. Should I expect very dimished?

While you're undergoing cancer treatment, you're going to be too fatigued to worry much about your cognitive performance. I wouldn't expect to be able to distinguish lower productivity as a result of "chemo brain" from lower productivity as a result of all the non-cognitive side effects until several weeks after your active treatment is done.

Taking off as much time as you're able to rest on and after treatment days will go a long way to helping you feel better the rest of the time.

As others have said, it's impossible to say because every person and every treatment is different.

I received treatment for testicular cancer in late 2012 through early 2013. I tried so hard to WFH during chemo because I hadn't been at my job long enough to take FMLA and I needed to keep the health insurance to, you know, get the chemo, and I couldn't afford both COBRA and rent at the time.

There was no way I could actually concentrate on anything when I hurt so much that I couldn't sleep, let alone actually do my job. I ended up going so deep into negative PTO that for the following two years that I was at that place I was never able to take another day off.

You can't know until you start... My wife was driving herself to the chemo and she was shopping afterwards. However the nurse said that her experience was quite exceptional, peoples are usually floored by Taxol. During radiations she was miserable, it was like a second degree burn all over her chest.

It depends. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma and had chemo for about 5 months over a year ago. Everyone reacts differently as some have various symptoms that can be worse or better than others. Some people are miserable in bed while others it not so bad and tolerable. It can also vary on the type of chemo treatment you are receiving.

Hang in there!

My father developed a bad rash approximately a year ago that won't go away. He also developed his first ever bloodclot. The rash could be from the eliquis, but his Dr thinks its from chemo. His lung cancer is successfully in remission for now, but the stage 4 COPD doesn't care. Anyhow, I learned recently that a rash is one of the more common side effects.

Good luck with your treatment.

You won't know - Everyone reacts differently and there's different chemos.

I do know someone who had very few side effects from chemo and worked full time the entire time at an active job without any real issues - logics/scheduling was the biggest problem for him.

You should avoid working if at all possible. Source: I'm barely a month out from completing chemo and radiation.

Have you seen mortgate rates lately?!? /s

My boss will be fairly chill about letting me WFH and contribute fewer hours, so I'll hope for the best. Worst case I'll try figure out if/how I can go on short-term disability.

Everyone has a different experience. However, chemo just sucks.

My wife went through it all and asked at the beginning: "Should I take off work?" To which my response was "You can be miserable and bored, or you can be miserable and busy. Your choice." Staying busy, at least, gets your mind off of it if you can swing it.

On the other hand, my wife sailed through radiation with nary a problem while the other folks around her had terrible problems.

Good luck. I hope you fare well.

I'm hoping to keep busy and stay paid. Fingers X'd that I don't need to go on disability!

Were hobbies off the table?

Not at all. If you'd rather do hobbies, you do you.

However, I do find that most people don't have hobbies that they can spend 8+ hours a day on and remain happy doing them. I do, but that's not very typical.

My wife loves her work and the people she works with. So, that was fine, too.

Work also serves as a slight "forcing function" so that you kinda have to get up and do something even if you're a little not up for it while you would just blow off a hobby.

It's all about whatever keeps you going.

I'll agree with the others that it really depends. I'm watching a family member who would like to work be unable to focus for long enough to get much work done. I suspect in his case it is pain mixed with the chemo and fatigue which makes good work difficult. Right now this is in the first couple weeks of treatment, I'm trying to be optimistic but also prepared for this to continue as treatment does. But now I have something else to watch out for I guess.

Either way, best of luck.

You are going to be so tired, you won't even be able to sleep.

Not necessarily but you should be prepared for it.

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