Hi all! I’m a long time lurker and finally took the plunge and joined. I just really wanted to vent and because it happened to me, I’m wondering how many others it could have happened to.
A bit of context:
I found a lump back in Feb 2021, which got diagnosed as Cancer in March 2021, I worked right up to the day just before my first chemo session. I was feeling pretty optimistic at that point and calculated that with 7 IV chemo cycles and surgery, that I would be back to work Oct/Nov later that year. I even thought that I would be able to work in between cycles and so initially, only got a sick note for one month. For some reason, I was overly confident and optimistic that chemo wouldn’t affect me too much (HUGE mistake) Two hours after my first dose, the vomiting started as my body rejected the poison, this then occurred every 30 mins or so for the next couple of days and I was completely drained of energy.
My workplace is a pharmacy so working in a healthcare setting whilst immunocompromised isn't ideal, you also don’t get to sit down on the job, I used to be on my feet for 10 hours a day, combining this with how I was feeling after just one cycle, it wasn’t realistic for me to work during treatment.
Everything went as planned until I got the results of my surgery back. Unfortunately, the lump they took out still had live cancer cells in it, so I needed more treatment. Radiotherapy and another 8 cycles of oral chemotherapy were added to my treatment plan which meant I would be finished in June 2022.
Due to this, I still wouldn’t be well enough to work and for those that managed to continue working, I truly respect you because all I wanted to do was not move, as I would feel nauseous and sleep.
I had my first physiotherapy session around April time to deal with the hip and back pain and fatigue that lovely chemo gave me as a present. I cried to my poor Physio that day, because, get this, I was worried about not being fit enough to do my work because my body has literally aged 60 years. She reassured me that with the right exercises and rehabilitation, that she will help me get back and fighting fit by the end of the year (Oct/Nov)
Following this I had a Welfare Meeting in May where I was then informed that I needed to return to work within the next 4 weeks or I would be dismissed on ill health retirement as the company only supports long term sickness for Cancer for up to 12 months. I had multiple Welfare Meetings before this point, most just general chat asking how I was feeling, and not once was it mentioned that there was a time limit on cancer treatment, because you know, cancer is a one size fits all kind of illness and everyone should be done within the year.
I was so angry after this meeting because I was completely blindsided. The fact that retirement was mentioned to me when I’m not even 40 was an insult because to me, it insinuated that they thought I would never get better and that I was never going to be able to work again. I was still in active treatment at this point.
The company is one of the top 3 chain pharmacies in the UK and so I think it’s kind of ironic that for a company in a sector that’s supposed to be seen as caring, doesn’t really feel the same about their employees.
The stress and anxiety from this meeting actually made me take a backwards step, I cried again at the physio (I hate crying around other ppl so seriously she needs a gold star) and this ended up delaying my physio sessions so I could divert my energy to sorting out the work mess. She ended up referring me to a clinical psychologist because that’s how affected I was.
I requested an occupational health assessment, by this time I was just about finishing my last cycle and the report was the same as I thought, which was that I would need a few more weeks in order to recover and rehabilitate from the effects of chemo treatment and that there were no adjustments that could be done.
In my head, I knew that I was still going to be dismissed because I wouldn’t be able to return as fast as they would like. The stress it was causing me was not good for my health and in the end, I just questioned whether I really wanted to work for a company that clearly has no compassion and where our morals and ethics do not match anymore. During the last meeting, they even had the audacity to say that I was more than welcome to apply for jobs at the company and that they wouldn’t hold this against me because you know, obviously I chose to be ill.
I loved my job, I loved my colleagues and the patients, I went in early, I worked late, heck I even came in on my days off and worked unpaid because that’s how much I cared about the place and I did not want to lose my job. I would have quite happily worked for life for this company.
It is now around a month since being dismissed (luckily on ill health capability and not retirement) and it's the first time I’ve been unemployed for about 20 years, I’m not going to lie, it’s a scary feeling knowing that I’ll have to go through interview processes again especially now my confidence is at an all time low. I’m now debating whether I want to go back in the pharmacy game or do a whole career change since I’ve still got at least 30 years of work before retirement age. If there are any pharmacists on here who did a career change, what did you end up doing?
I’ve been using this time wisely to make my body stronger, my hair is growing back because believe me, my head does not rock the bald look. Most importantly of all, I am officially cancer free and that is all that matters and I’m looking forward to my 2nd chance at life.
You only have one life, if your work is affecting negatively on your mental or physical health. Is it really worth it? At the end of the day, I was definitely just a number and not a person to them.
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Also as a bit of a footnote, I completely understand that there is a point where a company can dismiss you for being off too long and had I’d known about the 12 month cancer policy (which, by the way, was not written in any of the sick policies I had), I most likely would have handed in my notice at the time I found out that I needed more treatment because that’s the sort of person I am and wouldn’t want to inconvenience them any longer.
I don’t plan on taking my dismissal to a tribunal either because I don’t think I will cope with the stress and it’s expensive.