Newly diagnosed seeking info

Lelia

Hello, I'm visiting from CSN's head and neck board because my best friend's mother was just diagnosed with breast cancer following an abnormal mammogram followed up by an ultrasound and then biopsy. As I understand it the tumor is grade 1 (of 3?) and .42 cm.

She'll be treated at the very well regarded breast cancer center associated with the Big Ten university where we live. We have an appointment there Monday morning to discuss treatment options.

Does the breast cancer board have a Superthread FAQ or another thread with a list of questions to take to our appointment?

We would appreciate any direction, thank you all!

Gabe N Abby Mom

It's always hard when
It's always hard when someone near is diagnosed. Please let both your friend and her mother know they can come here with any specific questions they might have. For now, here is the link to the ACS article on questions to ask.

http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/OverviewGuide/breast-cancer-overview-talking-with-doctor

If you go to the blue box on the left of your screen, click on cancer information, then type in breast cancer...you'll get lots of articles to help understand staging, types of breast cancer, treatment options, etc.

I also recommend someone start a notebook or binder to keep track of all the information. As you probably know from your experience, there's a huge amount of information to keep track of. My binder has a section for pathology reports and treatment information, questions for the docs, a one page doctor address and phone list, insurance/disability/leave from work info, pockets for keeping cards etc that people have sent, receipts and billing...I can't remember all of it right now. But I like the binder because I can change and reorganize as needed.

I hope this helps, and I wish you all the best.

Hugs,

Linda

poplolly

You can google "questions to
You can google "questions to ask about breast cancer" and get access to articles, etc. Here are some of the places I've found you can go to:

beyondtheshock.com
cancerforums.net
pink-link.org
community.breastcancer.org