Diagnosed with Cancer, Now What?: Top 3 Treatment Questions
Those diagnosed with cancer have grave concerns that typically revolve around quality of life and death.
- Is this treatment going to work?
- Will I be able to handle the side effects of my treatment?
- Will this treatment extend my life?
Many patients often comply with the treatment the doctor recommends without asking some very important questions about the treatment itself. And rightly so, anyone diagnosed with cancer will tell you that they are emotionally tired, which means they don’t have much mental and physical energy to do anything but eat and sleep.
As a cancer patient advocate I ask clients to write a list of questions they wanted to ask their doctor but never did. Most of these questions are around what a particular treatment does in the body, how it affects the body long term, and how long will the treatment keep them alive.
These topics make up the top 3 questions most cancer patients want and should ask their doctor when she or he is in the room:
- How does treatment ____________ work?
- How will treatment _______ affect my body during and after treatment?
- What are the 1- and 5-year survival rates when patients take _______ treatment?
This top 3 list of questions are open-ended. Therefore, the doctor has to explain something to you, and they serve as ice breakers, opening up the conversation and building confidence for you to engage in a 2-way discussion with the doctor. It overcomes fear of the “white coat.”
Download our guide on Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Cancer here