What questions should I ask my doctor first if I am diagnosed with cancer?

What questions should I ask my doctor first if I am diagnosed with cancer?

Once you find out you have cancer, when you're first diagnosed, the next question you always want an answer to is how far along is this cancer? Is this an early finding? Are we finding this late? So essentially, what stage is my cancer? And the next step would be, obviously, what other diagnostic tests should I be doing before starting any treatment? What other specialists do I need to see before starting treatment? The critical statement I try to tell all patients is, "Do all your research before you start treatment. "Many people, they run into treatment too early. They just want to do something. This is a time when you should step back and get all the information you could possibly get. Ask your physician, "Where can I read about my cancer?", "Where can I get objective information about my cancer?", "What patients can I speak to who have had my cancer, who have made different treatment options, and may I talk to them to see?", "Would they do it again?", and, "How did it go for them?" These are the kinds of things that I think you want to try to leave that office with, once you finally find out what the actual problem is. Once you get that diagnosis, try to ascertain these things first.