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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 have time to make informed decisions. 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 Hospital/Cornell at 1300 York Avenue & 69 th Street. Walk to the end of the entrance hall, make a left and keep walking until you reach room A126. Talks begin at 5:30 PM promptly. 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.
    • Make sure your significant other will be there with you (for reassurance, continuity, and another set of ears).
    • Make a list of any and all questions you have, and make copies for you, your significant other and the doctor.
    • 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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