The idea behind Consultation Planning is simply to help people prepare for upcoming medical consultations with surgeons, oncologists, and other specialists. This is the best general advice I can offer anyone embarking on breast cancer decisions. I hope these lessons provide a starting point for more learning. I welcome your comments and suggestions. Along with my colleagues, I am available to help CBHP visitors plan for their upcoming medical consultations.
Cancers take years to grow to the point where they are detectable.
Three or four weeks of decision analysis now may prevent years of suffering later, in cases where decisions are difficult or impossible to reverse and costly in their implementation. Too often, the people who are treating you rush you through decisions to schedule you for immediate appointments because that is convenient and profitable for them. Don't let anyone rush you, including yourself. As painful as it may be for anyone to admit, the bottom line about breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is that, for the moment, no one knows what causes it, and no one knows how to cure it definitively. The people you consult may disagree on just about every facet of your breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.