what ?'s should I ask.....

susiesue

I have IDC,  I will be getting a lumpectomy on Mon., I am also triple negative so I already know that I will be getting radiation and chemo.......I'm looking for questions or advice that I might not know to ask my doctors when my final pathology report (lymph node status, margins status) from surgery comes in and when I talk to the doctors about radiation and chemo.  thanks everybody

NatureGrrl

I'm surprised you haven't gotten a lot of answers to this one... you can probably do a forum search and come up with some threads but I know from my own initial days that the last thing I wanted to do was slog through pages of threads to try to find out answers.  I don't know what you already know to ask or what you already know, so some of this might be obvious to you, but to get things started:

what stage, what grade is the cancer

what chemo will you be getting, possible side effects, what can you do to alleviate the SE's, what will they do to alleviate the SE's, how long will the infusions take

radiation:  how often (probably daily) for how long, SE's and what you can do to alleviate them

there may be some OTC and other meds you need to avoid while on chemo (depends on the chemo), because some meds interfere with some chemos, so find out about that

if you're getting A/C be sure they do a baseline MUGAscan to monitor your heart (and then you'll probably get another MUGA every 3 months)

Some things to think about for yourself:  asking friends/family to help out with meals, laundry, whatever, if you need it... will your hair fall out from chemo, and if so, how do you want to deal with it (just let it fall out on its own, shave your head when it starts falling out, head coverings or not, etc.)...

Gosh, I know there's a million questions I had, but maybe that will at least get you started and prompt some of your own.  If I think of anything else that might be helpful I'll post again.

If I understand properly, your lumpectomy is today.  Best of luck and a very warm hug...

PS  ask if you need/want a port for chemo