Being stricken with cancer is a terrible and frightful thing. There is nothing more agonizing than staring death right in the face and then coming to grips with the reality that it could soon be you if things don’t go perfectly. Once you wrap your head around those ideas (if you ever really do) you must deal with the conflicts and problems that it presents to your regular life. One of those issues deal with handling your job as a cancer patient.
Assuming you work for an employer and are not in business for yourself there are more than a few things you should know before you decide to deal with your job. The thing you are looking for is to protect your employment for as long as you can. Assuming you get better you will look to have that job back down the road.
Here is something you should think about. The first thing to do is to look in with your benefits office for something called “medical leave.” Most companies offer this as a courtesy to their employees. The way it works is you are able to take a certain number of weeks at a time off of work with full pay. After that you are allowed to take the same number of weeks off of work but this time without your pay.
If you plan on using this you must inform your employer and do so with enough notice. While they will traditionally allow it no matter how much notice is given, it helps to be upfront with them. Also make sure you pick the time to leave when you think you will need it the most. Many pick the first week of treatment but even if you could wait until that second or third week it might maximize the time you need to recover.