How to prepare for cancer treatment?

Be informed: you will have had a number of sessions with your treatment team, either radiation, chemotherapy or both. Take someone along to absorb the information. If possible, tape the sessions, so you can listen to the instructions again. It is impossible to absorb all that information in one session. You should be given material to read when you go home: do read it.

Keep a diary:

-of all your appointments

-of your investigations and the results. Keep all the reports for future reference.

-all the names and contact information of your treating physicians. 20 years later, you may not remember.

-dates and names of treatment drugs, schedules.

-Names of all your medicines you take on a routine basis, plus all the medicines you have been prescribed for nausea, diarrhea, pain, etc. Note when and how those doses were changed.

-to write questions that will occur to you later. Almost every visit with the oncologist will end with "do you have any other questions?". It's better to have them written down.

-bring the diary with you for your visits.

Nutrition and Exercise:

Follow a balanced nutrition plan. There is no evidence that any food groups feed or starve cancer. However, an unbalanced plan can deprive your body of essential nutrients. It is important to keep your weight up, so if you need to drink additional booster drinks, do so. Some cancer treatments however do not cause weight loss, e.g. early breast cancer chemotherapy for recurrence prevention, and you have to guard against weight gain.

Exercise is important for maintaining muscle strength and mobility, maintaining well being and conditioning. Levels of exercise ability will vary depending on where you are in your treatment. Persist as best you can.