Questions About Your Current Treatment

Hi, I'm Deltra, and I've been living with metastatic breast cancer since 2019. I'm here to help you if you have questions about your metastatic breast cancer treatment.

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Some reasons you may choose to talk to your doctor about your current treatment would be changes in how you're feeling. You're most aware of what's happening in your own body. So if you're experiencing new symptoms or worsen symptoms, you definitely should speak with your doctor about them.

Some things that are helpful to write down to share with your doctor before your appointment are any symptoms or side effects that you're experiencing, and the frequency. You may want to note when you notice them occurring. You may also want to make note of the things that you're eating, if you've made any diet changes. And certainly any supplements that you've decided to start taking.

Important information for your doctor to know so that they can advise treatment changes are what you're experiencing, how severe are any side effects that you're living with. Because if they are making your quality of life diminish, your doctor will use that information to determine whether or not it's worth it to continue you on a specific treatment.

If there are specific side effects that are alarming to you, ask your doctor how many of their patients actually experience those side effects that are already taking that treatment. And ask them how they have treated that side effect? Because oftentimes our teams are ready and equipped to handle any side effects that we may encounter, and make them tolerable if they can't actually make them go away.

When discussing your treatment, you may want to bring up financial options. It's important to do so early on so that you understand exactly what you'll be looking at. And your doctor will be able to connect you with someone on the team, or the pharmacy company that is able to help you get connected with resources to pay for your treatment.

When it comes to what to expect with treatments, it's hard to give one answer, because we're all individuals, and we don't all experience everything on the long list of side effects that come with each different treatment plan. Depending on your treatment, whether it's chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or radiation, or if you wind up having surgeries, those will affect your body in different ways.

If your doctor has gone over a treatment plan multiple times, and you're still struggling to understand them, of course, you can ask for more clarification. But you may also want to talk to someone else, someone who's a part of the team, or someone from a support group with lived experience. You might also ask your doctor to provide you with information you can take home to digest later.

When you live with metastatic breast cancer, you'll see your doctor quite frequently. How frequently depends on when you have treatments, the frequency of your treatments. Your doctor will see you in between those treatments. They'll need to see you when you get blood work done for those treatments to give the go ahead, or say, you need to hold back. They'll also be seeing you to go over your scans every 3 months.

While living with metastatic breast cancer you may want to seriously consider adding a mental health expert to your care team. Your oncologist will be very busy taking care of your physical self. But we know that you're a whole person beyond your cancer. And having a mental health specialist will help you navigate the other side effect of cancer, which is its emotional and mental impact.

Connect with the social worker at your cancer center to find out about any available support groups, whether live and in person, or virtual. You may also use apps or social media support groups to find people living with metastatic breast cancer, with your specific subtype, and who are in your age group.

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