“When you had cancer, you don’t come back as before, you change. We also ask ourselves a lot of questions, for example: ‘will I be able to be focused and do my job as well as before?’. Indeed, chemotherapy sessions tend to attack the brain and concentration! We also understand questions from colleagues… Returning to work is a hell of a step after cancer, which we don’t really talk about.”
Cancer and work: take the opportunity to reflect on your professional desires
“Personally, being a lawyer when I was diagnosed, I didn’t ask myself too many questions at first. But, after this ordeal, I realized that I will no longer be able to do my job as well as before. for I was then dealing with problems which I now considered trivial. So I spoke with my employer and we decided to terminate my contract. I advise people going through cancer to “take advantage” of it to ask themselves the right questions about their professional and personal future. This can take the form of individual training leave, for example, a request for disposal or information to become an entrepreneur.
Returning to work after cancer: the request from RQTH
“When the resumption of work is looming, it seems essential to me to make a request for therapeutic half-time because we still suffer a lot of fatigue, even after the end of the treatments. You are entitled to it after a long-term illness. I also advise to get recognized disabled adult worker (RQTH file) because it opens doors to training and job adjustments. Thanks to the cancer plan, ETP training is offered in healthcare centers to discuss, among other things, the professional problems encountered when returning to work. These workshops also make it possible to address patients’ rights. Fortunately, more and more companies are becoming aware of all this, thanks in particular to of the associations such as Cancer@work which raise awareness among companies to best welcome a colleague who has been affected by the disease.”
After cancer, a period of reappropriation
“Psychological support for patients is very important because we often feel things of the order of post-traumatic syndrome. We tend to think about cancer every day, from morning to night, we have real wounds, visible and invisible. Reclaim your body is also an essential step but can be time-consuming. For my part, I started yoga, I resumed a sports activity, I changed my eating habits. The body must rebuild itself step by step. Continuing or starting to take care of yourself becomes essential. Every morning my scars remind me that I have been sick, I will remember it all my life but that did not stop me from bouncing back at my own pace, without forgetting that everyone does what they can in their personal reconstruction process!”
Julie Meunier is the author of the book “To my fighting sisters: How cancer transformed me” published by Larousse editions
© Press Service
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