Eight weeks after a mastectomy and breast reconstruction for stage 0 breast cancer, Ms Patricia Malay was eager to get back to work, but she had not anticipated how quickly fatigue would set in."I couldn't stack meetings, one after the other, the way I used to," said the 46-year-old general manager at Bud Communications, an international public relations agency, who underwent the surgery in December 2025. Ms Malay said she was concerned that, as someone in a senior leadership role, taking time off work, even due to illness, would affect perceptions of whether she could still do her job, and so she wanted to push on, but without overexerting herself.Fortunately, Ms Malay said she was able to have an honest discussion with her team and boss about her ability to return to work at full capacity. "I told them I didn't know if I could go back to 100 per cent right away," she said. "Thankfully, they gave me as much leeway and understanding as possible."Ms Malay said her agency was more than happy to accommodate her needs as she returned to work. Rather than expecting immediate turnarounds, her colleagues would first ask if the task was something she could handle and what timeline she was comfortable with.There were other, smaller, gestures that made her feel accepted. After her surgery, she felt self-conscious about her appearance, and her team never pressured her to switch on her camera during online meetings. She took it easy for the first few weeks back to work after her surgery, and as soon as she gained more strength, she ramped up her workload. By August this year, she was back into the full swing of things. Ms Malay said she was fortunate that she was not the first person at her company to have gone through a serious illness. Her managers already had experience accommodating employees who needed time to recover from medical conditions. "When it came time for me to ask for that, I was just glad that it wasn't an issue," she said.