Get copies of pathology reports. I would go to my doctor with a list of questions and wouldn't leave until I had answers. Nowlan fields is not about cancer. She advises a woman to get her hair cut short before she begins her chemotherapy regimen in hopes that this might lessen the trauma of losing her hair in large clumps. She also suggests places to get wigs, hats and scarves.
Volunteers say the most difficult visits are with women diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer.
Vildibill recently worked with a woman with a tumor so large she underwent chemotherapy before surgery in the hope of shrinking the tumor before removing it. And she has worked with women who want to stop their chemotherapy midway because of the toll they take on the body and spirit. That is when a pep talk born out of empathy, not just sympathy, can make a huge difference. Sharing a woman's good fortune when she learns that her cancer was detected before it spread beyond her breast is one of the joys of being a volunteer. Sharon Greiner, a second-grade teacher at W.D. Hall Elementary School in El Cajon, got to share her good news with Vildibill last year.