What are some important questions that we should ask our oncologist during the initial consultation?
Asked February 23, 2010
My 22 year old son was diagnosed with signet ring cell adenocarcinoma of the colon 1 1/2 weeks ago. He had sugery last week to removed the tumor and 21 lymph nodes. We are told that he he has stage III c cancer. What are some important questions that we should ask our oncologist during the initial consultation?
Expert answer
Hi Jane,
There are many questions to ask but i'll try to summarize the key ones that you should get answers on:
1) Are there any critical areas other than his lymph nodes involved with cancer? 2) Does he need a MRI of the brain to look for metastatic disease? 3)Does he need a PET scan to identify other areas of disease? 4)Does he have an elevated tumor marker in the blood that you can follow? 5)What is his K-RAS status? 6)What is the chance of his cancer coming back? 7)What type of chemotherapy are you planning to use? 8)How does chemo affect his survival and relapse rate? 9)What can be done to minimize problems from chemotherapy? 10)How is he going to be monitored in the future for any possible relapse?
I hope these questions help, please keep us updated.
Simeon Jaggernauth, DO.
http://www.DRJAG.com
Answered February 28, 2010
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