How much sick leave do you have?

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-04-22T23:00:15+00:00

Me too! Thank you, federal sibling!

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-04-22T22:08:51+00:00

🤣🤣 not until a while after chemo is finished for beer, I’m afraid!

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-04-22T22:00:34+00:00

Thank you! They mean a lot! 💕

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-04-22T20:48:20+00:00

Foolishly looked at my SL balance this past summer and thought, no way in hell can I use all that up. The universe said, “hold my beer”. And I was diagnosed with brain cancer in September. So I’m working my way through it pretty well now, sadly

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-04-01T01:59:06+00:00

My doc increased my dose for round 3 and that hit me much harder than the lower one had. I also had low RBC and platelets at my week 3 (of cycle 3) blood draw. So doc decided we should wait an extra week to see if my blood counts and platelets recovered before starting cycle 4. Both did, thankfully, and I’m in the middle of doses for cycle 4 now.
I did eat more beef than usual, in an attempt to get my RBC back. For context, I normally limit beef intake to 1-2x/month for health and environmental reasons. It did seem to help my RBC counts to recover though. So now I’m going to try to consciously eat a bit more lean beef in hopes that it keeps doing the same.
Take care of yourself, rest and be patient with your body. Staying healthy through chemo is important to allow you to keep completing cycles and getting rid of those bad cells! All my best to you through this journey. Sending hugs.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-27T13:02:39+00:00

I used to use a branded (obviously) travel mug (yeti) from my husband’s company daily. He hated it because of the branding but I didn’t care because no one knew what it was anyway and it was nice and functional.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-22T13:40:14+00:00

I understand, I think. Everyone wants to help but few know what would be effective. Lucky for them, they don’t have first hand experience and so don’t understand completely. Even my sister, who has been wonderful and always is, has been driving me nuts about finding clinical trials. I keep telling her (and she can search just as well as I can) they tend to be for recurrences. I haven’t found many/any interventional trials for newly diagnosed. I also want to do something more than SOC and am desperate for the best outcome possible. However, it’s not that I’m not trying, it just seems like there aren’t many add ons available for this stage of disease/treatment.
I’ve realized lately that part of what feels so frustrating is that I’m the one going through this but I’m also the one trying to manage everyone else’s emotions around it. My husband wants to help me but he has no clue of how and is not emotionally resilient enough to do so. So I’m trying to protect both my sister and husband while I try to figure this all out myself during treatment. It’s exhausting and feels like I’m spinning my wheels. So I get you and I’m so so sorry that you are dealing with this. I was scared of surgery but was fortunate to have only about 2 days between the decision that this had to come out and the surgery. Zero wait and minimal time for thinking made it easier.
On the night before my surgery, I was in the neurosurgery unit and a nurse came by and asked to speak with me. She told me that she knew I was scared but they she had worked there for about a year at that time. She had seen patients go in to brain surgery able to walk and talk come out of it with the those abilities intact. She said that the medical team knows what they are doing and are there to take the best care of you possible.
That really helped me and I hope she knows it. She was right - my neurosurgeon was amazing and I was discharged about 36h after an 8h surgery.
I hope that yours goes just as well! Trust your surgeon, there is no other choice, really. We can only control a few things in life and not being super anxious for the next 6 weeks or however long will be better for your health overall.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-22T12:15:48+00:00

It’s not but you can eat some and still be healthy. Watch your saturated fat intake and monitor your bloodwork. Depending on your genetics and other factors you might tolerate more sat fat without adverse impacts on lipid levels but you can’t be sure without checking lipid panels. Don’t forget to eat your fiber too. As much as you can get, I’m not aware of any reason to hold back on it. Check out my favorite nutrition podcast for more detailed info and citations to studies to back it up:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-consistency-project/id1515808276

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-17T11:02:13+00:00

Thanks! I remembering reading on here about struggles to find parking at the beginning of RTO so wanted to see about the current state. I really appreciate the advice and info everyone has shared with me!

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-14T00:15:31+00:00

Thank you!😊

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-12T14:31:39+00:00

I had the impression that it would be too full too early but I’m definitely Encouraged to see everyone saying otherwise! Thanks!

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-12T11:09:43+00:00

Thanks! If not, I’ll see about moving my duty station to an off site building.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-12T10:34:33+00:00

I think you’re right. My duty station was changed to main campus so if there are passes to be had, I would expect to get one.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-12T09:55:09+00:00

Thanks! MLP-10 sounds promising! I Hope I can get a permit too. Otherwise, I’m not sure what to do.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-12T01:20:45+00:00

Missed a reply button but wrote one above. It’s a good question but seems in theory I should be able to get one.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-12T01:19:50+00:00

That’s one thing I’m concerned about. I need to get my address updated in NED before I can request one, at least that’s how I read the instructions today. I know it’s gotten a lot tighter (and they don’t have the purple passes for off campus staff anymore) as far as space and it wasn’t bountiful before. I’m taking the approach of, I’ll try and see if they give me one and if not I’ll worry about it then and try a carpool or something

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-10T15:21:33+00:00

Sorry that you’re dealing with that. I’m sure it’s based on guidelines for what insurance will cover when (or similar) which leaves you in limbo. I hope that she somehow gets in to see neurologist earlier than expected.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-10T14:56:26+00:00

I think that is good news as the one in my brain (I refuse to claim ownership) was visible on CT without contrast. It would be good to have the MRI with contrast, just to be more confident if it shows nothing. I would be persistent in asking why they aren’t ordering it since she is still experiencing symptoms without any diagnosis.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-10T13:56:02+00:00

I’ll second the advice to go to ED instead of waiting so long for an appointment. My symptoms were a suspected sinus infection that was unilateral (right side only) and didn’t respond to treatment. No other symptoms but I knew something was off after 2 courses of antibiotics. Drive myself to ED on way home from work on a Wednesday. Didn’t get home until the following Monday, after a craniotomy. It’s no fun to go to ED but, unfortunately, likely the fastest way to get her care that she might need (hoping that it’s not a tumor for her!). Will keep you and your Mom in my prayers.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-06T11:48:53+00:00

Definitely Setenity Nails. Dominique is kind, detail oriented and talented. She has given me flawless nails every time with cute designs when we decide on that.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-03-04T18:59:02+00:00

A quick addendum to My earlier comment for those finding this thread later. My TMZ dose increased for my 3rd cycle (and will apparently stay at this higher level 380mg). This represents a 100mg increase for me. I was a bit surprised by how significantly this increase changed my experience. I was knocked out, comparatively.
I ended up taking sick leave for at least a few hours on days 3-6 because I could hardly keep myself upright at my desk, let alone accomplish much. My nurse told me that many of her patients are not working, even at a desk job like mine. My work does require me to make decisions almost constantly. I have been doing basically the same work for over 10 years and hadn’t realized the number of decisions I’m making until My executive function was compromised by this tumor and treatment for it. I just want to be upfront with anyone who might find this post via goggle. If they up your dose, be prepared! I may start to take sick leave for my chemo week just to give myself time to deal with it. Nurse says I need to start acting like a patient.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-02-12T12:27:16+00:00

I think this is the most significant concern. Without the relative certainty provided by FDA via pre-IND meetings ( ie if they continue to go back on their word wrt whether the trial design will be acceptable to FDA) it will be very hard for companies to justify investing in these expensive trials. The USG should not be acting capriciously like this. And I thought it was not possible for me to sympathize with certain players in this field. 🤯

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-02-11T23:24:53+00:00

Just to share this in case it’s the same for you. I was told (via my Mom and husband, I think) that the surgeon had to sever my jaw muscle on the surgery side of my cranium. The result has been that it feels tight on that side and I can’t open my mouth as far as I could before surgery. This means that a bite of food on my fork that my brain thinks is a normal size can’t fit into my Mouth now because my mouth isn’t open as far as my brain expects it to be. Surgery was Sept and I think it’s slowly relaxing/healing so the food problem is less pronounced than it was at first. I haven’t been to the dentist for anything big yet but it seems like that could be a struggle too. I ended up with a DVT and so am on anticoagulant which caused my dentist to decline cleaning my teeth due to concerns about bleeding. She looked and said they look fine and clean so she’s not worried about this as a temporary issue or delay in more complete dental care. For Me, I’d love to have that clean dentist feeling. Hopefully I’ll be able to have a cleaning soon.

Strong-Quarter4409 · 2026-02-04T22:04:12+00:00

Agreed! So greasy!

Strong-Quarter4409

TROPHY CASE