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TRACY MCELVEEN: After a cancer
diagnosis,
you may be overwhelmed.
But once the shock passes,
don't panic.
Most likely, if they've got
a diagnosis, this didn't pop up
yesterday.
So even though there's
a tremendous amount of anxiety
that everything needs to happen
tomorrow and treatment needs
to start immediately,
I think it's
important for patients
to remember to pause
and let the process unfold
in its due time.
Getting educated is a big part.
When somebody gets a diagnosis,
they might not have ever known
anything about that.
Let's say they get a diagnosis
of bladder cancer,
they're going to get online
and they're going to Google it,
right?
Stick with recommended sites
like the American Cancer
Society, the National Cancer
Institute, known cancer
websites, because they're going
to have information that's going
to be accurate and helpful.
Getting organized is key.
This is a long process,
and during that process
there's a lot of information
that patients are going to be
given.
So one of the things that
is very helpful
is to set up a system upfront.
If you get a three-ring binder,
put some tabs in there
and start putting
the information
that you gather
into that organized format,
it will help you feel like you
are in control.
It will give you a resource
to then reference back to so
that you can refresh your memory
of things
that you have heard or read
in the past
and stay with you
during the process
as an organized piece.
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