[DiDi70]

Oh dear,

Big decisions. First thing, I think, is to be armed with as much knowledge as possible, so, if I were you, I would press for the mammogram results ASAP. It's going to be challenging to make a decision without that info.

You do need to be very careful about transitioning your health insurance and benefits, including your allowance of sick days and the "new" company policy on leaves of absence. Is there any way that you can find that out before you make a decision? I know of various policies that have a 90 day transition for any of the benefits, i.e. new employees cannot be covered for the first 90 days of employment. Also, will there be a physical required for the new job and if so, will your diagnosis make you ineligible for certain benefits in the new job that you have at your current job?

Now for the other stuff: This is your life. You deserve to be happy, to feel fulfilled and to have a sense of purpose each day when you awaken. As we know, money isn't everything, but the stress of not having coverage would be dreadful.

This is what happened to me:

I was offered a new job on a Tuesday and had 48 hours to respond.

Went to the emergency room on Wednesday due to finding a lump on my breast on Tuesday night.

Diagnosed stage 3b on Friday. Declined new job offer as I was sure that my current benefits would cover my health expenses. My benefits covered about $20,000 of medications and treatments and I now know that the "new" job offer would not have covered more than $5,000 of expenses. I am now relieved that I stayed at my current job for that reason.

I have been told that if I look for another job that I will most likely have to disclose my diagnosis when filling out the benefit applications and that I will most likely be excluded from a lot of the coverage due to my existing condition.

I do know other women who have had breast cancer and transitioned to different jobs or to part time post-treatment and each one of them has said that it was the best thing that they ever did. Some took a big pay cut, but are happier to have more time to spend with their family, others have downsized their homes to allow them to have more cash on hand to pay for medical expenses no longer covered by insurance.

It's a huge decision, but if your benefits will be good at the new job and if it's a supportive work-environment and you will not be discriminated against for needing to take time off for appointments, then I say go for it. You deserve to be happy.

Try writing all of the pros and cons down on a sheet of paper and see if anything becomes glaringly obvious to you.

Wishing you the best of luck with this major decision,

Didi