Scary, But Very Important: How To Prepare For A Chemotherapist Appointment

Scary, but very important: how to prepare for a chemotherapist appointment

Anastasia Danilova, an oncologist, chemotherapist of the Moscow City Oncological Hospital No. 2, has drawn up a detailed memo for patients who are preparing for treatment.

Photo: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash

Cancer diagnosis is a huge stress for everyone who is faced with it. But at this moment, it is more important than ever to be collected and attentive in order to draw up a treatment plan with the doctor and go through it. These simple, but very important recommendations from a practitioner will help you prepare for your appointment with a chemotherapist, which largely determines how effective the therapy will be.

1. The patient must personally discuss his treatment plan with the oncologist, otherwise the consultation will not be complete and it will be difficult for the specialist to develop an adequate action plan. Take a loved one with you if you find it difficult to come on your own.

2. Take to the appointment all the documents that relate to your health, even if they were made a long time ago - extracts, test results and examinations, morphological conclusions. It is advisable to arrange them in a folder with separate files in chronological order so that the doctor can devote more time to you, and not to parsing documents. Write down the names of the medicines you are taking separately.

3. If you have been examined using MRI or CT, be sure to take a disc with you or write the images to a USB drive, this is very important. It is important for the doctor to see not only the conclusion, but also to see the images of the studies himself in order to correctly assess the situation and draw up a treatment plan.

4. Do you still have “blocks” and “slides” after biopsy or histology? Great, take them with you too. It is possible that additional analyzes will be required on this material.

5. If you already have questions for your doctor, write them down in advance. This will help you remember to ask what is important to you during your appointment.

6. Be patient. A doctor's appointment can be delayed for various reasons. If you are registered, the doctor will definitely see you and will do everything possible to help you.