Suggestions for the Newly Diagnosed

  • Don't panic. The odds are very much in your favor that you will live a long and healthy life.You are not alone.
  • Take charge of your disease. Inform yourself and stay on top of your particular path through the fields of modern medicine.
  • Approach this chapter of your life with a significant other: wife, lover, good friend. Make sure this person can attend all doctor visits with you.
  • Check your health insurance. It will impact your choices and decisions.
  • Get possession of your biopsy report & slides. Every doctor's office you will visit will want to do its own biopsy report. They are your medical records and belong to you. You might be charged a fee.
  • Get as informed as possible:
    • Talk to friends (or friends of friends) who have had prostate cancer.
    • Check the internet. Be careful: the amount of information can be overwhelming.
    • Come to UsToo New York meetings every month at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell. Check our Web Site Home Page for the exact location. You are not alone!
  • Start calling specialists: surgeons, radiotherapists & oncologists soon. The good ones are booked way in advance. Always ask to be put on their waiting list for last-minute cancellations. It's not unusual to get 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th (or more) opinions.
  • When visiting a doctor:
    • Arrange to have your slides and biopsy report sent a good week BEFORE your appointment. Follow up with a call to make sure the report & slides have indeed arrived.
    • Bring reports of your existing medical conditions, medications you are taking, and yoour doctor's phone number.
    • Make sure someone goes with you for support, continuity, and as another set of ears.
    • Make a list of any and all questions you have, and make copies for you, the person who accompanies you, and the doctor. After each visit record the answers to these questions and note any new ones raised
    • Call the doctor's office the next day and ask for a copy of his report of your visit. Again they're your medical records.
  • Keep coming to UsToo New York meetings every month.

 

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