What to Ask When You’re Diagnosed with Cancer

Dr. Singhal’s tips on learning more about your diagnosis and a treatment plan that helps you take an active role in planning your cancer care

More than a million people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer each year. That devastating news brings up a lot of questions, whether you have cancer or you’re close to someone who does. Your doctor can answer all of your questions for you, but informed questions are the best kind of questions. Dr. Shyamali Singhal, Oncologist, suggest that you learn as much as you can about your cancer diagnosis.

Plan your first visit

If you’ve recently  been diagnosed with cancer, you will have a lot of questions about your particular disease and what to expect. The first step is making an appointment with the appropriate oncologist to meet your specific needs. Depending on the type and stage of your disease, your first appointment will be with a surgical oncologist, a medical oncologist, or a radiation oncologist. Any one of these specialists can help you better understand your diagnosis and treatment options.

Learn More About Your Cancer

As part of your consultation, your oncologist will discuss your disease, treatment options, and prognosis. Your prognosis depends on the type of cancer, the stage of your disease when first diagnosed, and your response to treatment. The tests will be performed to  determine what kind of cancer is it and where is it located. Your oncologist will oversee all aspects of your treatment including eventual surgery, chemotherapy and medication, and radiation and recovery.

The Stages Of Cancer

Cancer staging is a key marker to determine the extent of the disease. Cancers range from stage 0 to stage 4. The stage is a way to describe the size of the tumor, lymph node involvement, and whether the cancer has spread. The stage is determined after the tumor and lymph nodes are surgically removed and examined by a pathologist.

Ask About The Therapy

Your radiation Oncologist will create a unique plan of treatment taking into account your diagnosis. In addition, your Oncologist will decide the type of radiation machine that will be used, the amount of radiation needed and the number of treatments. There are many different radiation therapy options, and the radiation Oncologist will arrange with you the most efficient plan.

The Side-Effects of Cancer Treatment

In Dr Singhal’s experience, for the majority of people cancer treatment is debilitating to some degree. Many side-effects are to be expected, and some include changes to skin, brittleness of the nails and hair loss.

Sometimes, there are choices that cancer patients can make in order to attack the cancer. Some treatment plans are less aggressive than others. Ask for your options, and discuss them with your Oncologist.

Financial Support Through Cancer Support Services

The financial costs associated with cancer are often overwhelming. Support is vital to assisting with the physical, emotional and financial challenges of cancer treatment. Every patient and their family needs to take advantage of all available public services, including palliative care, which helps to lighten the responsibilities and lessen stress for everyone involved. There are a number of federal and state programs that provide financial benefits to cancer patients. These benefits, known as entitlements, are primarily set up for low-income households, the elderly, and the disabled.

Ask For More Information

Cancer treatment is never easy. Once the patient starts with the cancer treatment, it's important to know what is the optimal strategy to achieve success. Therefore, it would be wise to have two medical opinions about how best to treat the disease.

Learn more about your cancer. Once you understand the kind of cancer you are dealing with you can better understand your doctor's plan to treat it.

Get All The Help You Can Get

There is a lot of new and unfamiliar information to take in and process after learning your cancer diagnosis. Dr. Singhal reminds cancer patients that taking care of yourself after a cancer diagnosis may be the most important task of all, the task that is so often overlooked. Hope & Beauty brings you  tips on skin, hair and nail care, to help you look good and feel good while going through this journey.