Booklet: What You Need to Know about Pancreatic Cancer

Preparing for Treatment

Many people with cancer want to learn all they can about their disease and their treatment choices so they can take an active part in decisions about their medical care. When a person is diagnosed with cancer, shock and stress are natural reactions. These feelings may make if difficult for people to think of everything they want to ask the doctor. Often, it helps to make a list of questions. To help remember what the doctor says, people may take notes or ask whether they may use a tape recorder. Some patients also want to have a family member or friend with them when they talk to the doctor--to take part in the discussion, to take notes, or just to listen.

Patients do not need to ask all their questions or remember all of the answers at one time. They will have other chances to ask the doctor to explain things and to get more information.

These are some questions a patient may want to ask the doctor before treatment begins:

• What is my diagnosis?
• What is the stage of the disease?
• What are my treatment choices? What does each treatment involve? Which do you recommend? Why?
• What are the risks and possible side effects of each treatment?
• What are the chances that the treatment will be successful?
• What new treatments are being studied in clinical trials? Would a clinical trial be appropriate for me?
• Will treatment affect my normal activities?
• What is the treatment likely to cost?

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