My husband was diagnosed with MM in his mid-50s, 8 years ago. Considering his initial illness, front line therapy, ASCT, and recovery time, he took a total of about 1 year off from work. He has been back working full-time as a physical education teacher ever since.

It absolutely depends on the work itself and the individual. Everyone’s myeloma is different. I went back to work immediately after being cleared from isolation. I also did remote work while in isolation. It’s possible to jump back in quickly but you have to be very careful and understand that you’re going to be extremely tired for a while after SCT. I should mention that in the myeloma world I’m pretty young (47). I hope all goes well with his SCT, listen to the doctors.

I went back to work after my first stem cell transplant for 4 years before it came back. I took early retirement after my second transplant because I knew I wouldn’t be able too physically do the job on top of shift. My employer was very good too me too slowly return too work starting at two hours a day for a week and increasing it slowly until I was fully back too work.

I think that would depend on the nature of the work. For office work it may be possible to take only a brief sojourn during the procedure. For more physical activities it may be longer to regain the strength or if the bone damage has been debilitating then a return to a physically demanding work may not be possible.

I'm a local truck driver I returned to work shortly after isolation ended. Because I started back in the middle of the week I only worked a few days the first week I had appointments the second week so I don't think I worked a full week until my 3rd or 4th week. Just be aware of yourself and how you're doing and take a day off if you have to and ease back into it. Those are my recommendations for what they're worth.