I didn’t work during chemo session because of the worst symptom of severe pain scale 10/10. I stayed home for six months.

Thank you for that information.

However, I wouldn't be able to live off of disability. So, I'm in the process of trying to clear my home & put my building on the market by next spring/late summer. Hopefully I can sell. If that happens then I will be financially able to take off work as needed and survive with money from the sell of my home and short term disability through my job.

I worked through all of my breast cancer treatments 17+ years ago, however, that may not be the case this time around.

Ultimately, none of this is in my hands... I just have to take it day by day... do the best that I can, and try not to worry about the future too much.

For my biopsies, they did a bronchoscopy to collect tissue from my left lower lung mass, when the hospital lab & NIH labs both came back with inconclusive results, the doctors started to look at other ways to diagnose. I also had masses in my spleen, so the surgeon that could do a splenectomy suggested a needle biopsy of the spleen guided by interventional radiology - that one came back conclusive for NHL DLBCL. I had chest X-rays, CT scans, and a PET scan before diagnosis.
The fatigue is kinda hard for me to describe, because I was fatigued from the sickness and shortness of breath before starting treatment, then felt a little better after first treatment, then fatigue seems to cumulatively get a bit worse with more treatment. Sometimes I can push through, sometimes I really need to rest or sleep. I have found that reducing my daily work hours has helped.

My husband with NHL continued to work through initial & maintenance rituximab x2 yrs total. He has Weds & Thurs as his days off & works all the other days. He would get infusion on Weds mornings, come home & nap, then be ready to participate in routine life. Thursday as a buffer day to take it easy and then return to work on Friday. He had 6ish months off and then had more symptoms and more lymph node involvement so then had B and R infusions for 6 months, 2 consecutive days per month. He had very few side effects, really just fatigue. He was able to continue working (100% masked) throughout. He can push through the fatigue but doesn’t commit himself too much outside of work.
I think everyone’s situation will be different, but it is a possibility to continue working in some cases. Also, it is possible to have the oncology office help you file for disability if you are unable to work. Don’t push yourself too hard to work if you can’t also take care of yourself to be as healthy as possible during this time. Sending positive thoughts to you.

~-:-🩷-:-~ Thanks for that information. I'm still trying to get an appointment to see an oncologist. I'll keep you posted. ~-:-🩷-:-~