Getting Started
How to prepare for your first appointment
Your first appointment will be with an oncologist/hematologist and will be about 60 minutes. Here's some information to help you prepare for your appointment.
- Create a list of questions to ask your doctor.
- Bring a list of all medications, vitamins or supplements that you're taking.
- Bring one family member or friend to the appointment.
- Write down any symptoms you're experiencing, including any that may seem unrelated to your cancer diagnoses.
- Write down your family's history of cancer.
- Bring your insurance card.
If you had lab work, pathology and/or imaging completed at some place other than Northfield Hospital + Clinics, please have your medical records sent prior to your first appointment.
Common Cancer Diagnosis Tools
- Physical exam - Your doctor may feel areas of your body for lumps, and look for abnormalities, such as changes in skin color or enlargement of an organ, that may indicate the presence of cancer.
- Laboratory tests - urine and blood tests may help your provider identify abnormalities that can be caused by cancer. It may also identify treatment options.
- Imaging tests - Imaging tests used in diagnosing cancer may include a computerized tomography (CT) scan, bone scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) scan, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, 3D mammograms and X-ray, among others. These tests allow your provider to examine your bones and internal organs through images.
- Biopsy - During a biopsy, your provider collects a sample of cells for testing in the laboratory. There are several methods for collecting a sample. In most cases, a biopsy is the only way to definitively diagnose cancer. Samples may also be used to identify effective cancer treatments.
Common Cancer Treatments
- Immunotherapy - uses substances either made in the body or in a lab to boost the immune system and help find and destroy cancer cells.
- Hormone therapy - also called hormonal therapy, hormone treatment, or endocrine therapy uses medicine to block or slow down cancers that use hormones to make cancer cells grow or divide.
- Targeted drug therapy - uses drugs or other substances to identify and attack certain types of cancer cells.
- Surgery - to remove the cancer or as much of the cancer as possible.
- Chemotherapy - uses drugs to kill cancer cells.
- Radiation therapy - uses high-powered energy beams, such as X-rays and protons, to kill cancer cells. NH+C works in partnership with Mayo Clinic Radiation Therapy.
