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Questions

Everything people write about here, in the order a story tends to unfold. Open a question to read what everyone said about it.

Diagnosis & first steps

How was the cancer found?5 answers
What symptoms came before the diagnosis?2 answers
How did you hear the news?2 answers
What went through your mind when you were told?4 answers
What happened in the days right after the diagnosis?3 answers
How did you handle waiting for answers?2 answers
What do you wish you had known in your first week?1 answer

1 more question nobody has answered yet

How did you decide about genetic testing?

Telling people

How did you tell your family and closest friends?3 answers
If you have kids, how did you explain it to them?1 answer
How did you tell your employer or coworkers?2 answers
How did you handle people's reactions?1 answer
What did you wish people had said, or not said?1 answer

2 more questions nobody has answered yet

How did you handle telling people on their behalf?
How did you decide who to tell, and who not to?

Treatment & your care team

How did you choose your hospital or care team?1 answer
How did you go about getting a second opinion?1 answer
What was your treatment like, day to day?1 answer
What helped you get through treatment sessions?1 answer
What was the hardest part of treatment?2 answers

6 more questions nobody has answered yet

How did you make big treatment choices?
How did you think about clinical trials?
What was your first day of treatment like?
How did you keep track of appointments and medications?
How did you push back or speak up with your care team?
What questions do you wish you had asked your doctors sooner?

Side effects & your body

Which side effects did you have?3 answers
How did you manage nausea?2 answers
How did you handle taste and appetite changes?1 answer
How did you handle hair loss?1 answer

6 more questions nobody has answered yet

Which side effect did you least expect?
What helped you manage fatigue?
If you had surgery, what was recovery like?
If you had radiation, what was it like?
If you are on active surveillance, what is it like living with something you are watching rather than treating?
What changed about your body that you did not expect?

Daily life, work & money

How did you handle work during treatment?1 answer
How did you handle the cost of treatment?1 answer

8 more questions nobody has answered yet

What small things helped day to day?
What did you bring to appointments to make them easier?
How did you learn to manage their symptoms at home?
What helped you deal with insurance or bills?
What could you eat when nothing sounded good?
How did you plan your day around your energy?
How did you keep the rest of life running?
What did you do for yourself while caring for them?

Emotions & mindset

What coping tools did you lean on?3 answers
How do you handle scan anxiety?1 answer
How did you cope with fear and uncertainty?1 answer
How do you plan for the future when you do not know what it holds?1 answer
What did a really hard day look like?1 answer
Which emotions came up the most?1 answer

4 more questions nobody has answered yet

What got you through the hard days?
What was the hardest part of watching someone you love go through this?
What matters more to you now, and what matters less?
Did you ever feel like you were a burden, and what helped?

Relationships & support

Who showed up for you, and how?1 answer
What kind of support meant the most?1 answer
Who pulled away, and how did you handle it?1 answer
What was it like finding others going through the same thing?1 answer

4 more questions nobody has answered yet

How did you ask for and accept help?
What did you need that nobody offered?
Who turned out to be the person you could count on?
Who supported you while you supported them?

Intimacy & fertility

What do you wish you had known about fertility before treatment started?1 answer

5 more questions nobody has answered yet

How did cancer change intimacy for you?
How did you talk about those changes with your partner?
How did you handle decisions about fertility?
If you were dating, when did you tell someone new?
If you have started feeling more like yourself, what helped?

Where life is now

How do you deal with fear of recurrence?1 answer

9 more questions nobody has answered yet

What was finishing treatment like?
If your treatment is ongoing, what is that like?
How do you answer when people ask if you are done with treatment?
What does follow-up care look like for you now?
What lasting effects are you still navigating?
What does life look like now?
What did the days look like once the caregiving stopped?
What do you do now with everything you learned about their illness?
What did you have to deal with afterwards that nobody warned you about?

Looking back

What's one thing you would tell yourself on the day you found out?1 answer
What would you tell someone who just became a caregiver?1 answer
What do you know now that you didn't know then?1 answer
If you could go back, what would you do differently?1 answer
What would you tell a caregiver?1 answer
What small comfort would you pass on?1 answer

1 more question nobody has answered yet

What would you tell someone newly diagnosed?