No One Can See My Illness
I had breast cancer about a year and a half ago. I got surgery and luckily I didn’t have to undergo chemo or radiation. Surgery was able to remove all my tumors. I still have check-ups and screenings occasionally, however, and have to miss work.
Another co-worker in another department has breast cancer but unfortunately was unable to have it removed by only surgery and had to be out longer.
She is still undergoing treatment. I declined reconstruction on my breasts so I was able to come back to work at 3 1/2 weeks. I have no breast on my left side, just a flat scar—no breast tissue and I have no nipple and only a smaller amount of breast tissue on my right side.
They removed a lot of breast tissue with a lumpectomy but were able to salvage about 55% of the tissue. My co-workers and my immediate supervisor have been talking about my breast cancer for weeks because I had to miss an important meeting for an MRI and a bone scan.
I requested it off and got my manager and HR to approve it. But now this co-worker and supervisor have been spreading rumors that because I came back to work so soon that I didn’t actually have breast cancer.
I wear a prosthetic at work so no one sees me flat. They are saying everyone they know with any cancer always has to take a lot of time off work and I seem fine. Someone said they saw me out at the store—this was after an oncology appointment that was approved by my manager, and I did stop by the grocery store on my way home—and I looked fine.
Again, I am not on chemo so my appointments are check-ups and blood draws. I feel fine after. They are emotionally draining but physically I feel great. It got to the point where I was scared to even take appointments because I knew coming back to work would be the worst.
Again, my manager has always been supportive and HR too. This is just my supervisor and my co-workers. I have surgery coming up to help with some scarring. They are just going to clean up some of the tissue now that everything has healed and I have been cancer-free for over a year.
I let my supervisor know they are thinking about scheduling it for the summer and he said, “Right, the cancer thing again.” One particular day last week, I got upset because I heard them in the office next door talking about me.
They were saying I was scamming everyone and that I didn’t deserve the upcoming raises. They talked again about how I didn’t have cancer. Then I did something supremely stupid. I got upset, walked over, lifted my shirt and prosthetic bra, and showed them the scars on my chest.
I did cover my remaining 55% there breast with no nipple with my hand, but my scars were on display for all to see. I then told them to go screw themselves and went back to my desk. This was on Friday at 3:30 pm. I left at 4:30 like I always do. No one has said anything.
It is now Monday and I am worried. I had time to think over the weekend and realized it was a huge mistake. I should have just gone to HR about the gossip. I have seen my manager but they haven’t said anything.
My supervisor hasn’t said anything. None of my gossiping co-workers have said anything. The ones that don’t gossip haven’t said anything and are acting like normal. What should I do to un-mess this up? What can I expect them to do to me? Story credit: Reddit / Buryashblurs