How to Manage Your Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Coping with a life changing and frightening diagnosis requires extreme coping skills. But luckily there are a tremendous amount of resources out there, and there are a few simple things you can do to make things easier as you attempt to figure it all out.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Tell your friends and family. It will not be easy to break this news, but it is necessary for you to do it as soon as possible. Do not try to deal with this on your own. Even if you are estranged from certain family members, it is time to put your differences behind you and get back in touch.

2. Assemble a network. Determine who you would most like to have around you during this time. Good choices here are those people who have a great sense of humor, a calming sense of spirituality or optimistic outlook you admire, or someone who has dealt with cancer in his or her own life.

3. Buy a notebook. Write down as much information as possible. Write the dates and times of all treatments, procedures and meetings with different doctors. You will most likely be shuffling between several different doctors and specialists, and each will want to know what types of procedures the others have performed and when. New medications and the shock of your diagnosis may make it difficult for you to remember things as well as usual.

4. Do your research. Reach out to people you know who have had cancer and ask them for recommendations for specialists, like an oncologist. Read about your diagnosis online and write down questions to ask your doctor at your next appointment.

5. Decide on your course of treatment and share this with loved ones. Let your friends and family know if you are going with surgery or chemotherapy, for example. Let them know why you have chosen this option and what it will mean in terms of lifestyle change for you and them. Most importantly, let them know how they can help you get through your treatment.

6. Bring a friend to all appointments. Tap into your network and figure out who is available at what time. Friends that do not work outside the home or have jobs with flexible schedules may be able to accompany you most often, but don't let these people be your only supports. Even your hardest working friends and family members can take a vacation or personal day here or there to help you out and make sure the others don't get burned out.

7. Use cancer-specific community resources. Ask to speak to the oncology social worker at the hospital where you are being treated. He or she can provide you with weekly counseling sessions or connect you with additional resources like the American Cancer Society, which can in turn provide you with nutritional information and cosmetic information, like where to buy wigs or receive donations of supplies specifically designated for cancer patients.

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