Discovering you have cancer can be confusing and upsetting. Important decisions must be made, yet patients and caregivers often feel overwhelmed. One way to overcome this situation is to learn about your disease, your course of treatment and the medical experts who will be caring for you.
As a patient at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, you will receive a patient handbook that covers information about radiation therapy, your treatment team, your daily treatments, financial issues, your rights and responsibilities and other special services that will help your experience at Mary Bird Perkins be as comfortable as possible.
For your first visit and for subsequent visits, it might be helpful if a friend or family member accompany you. Patients are often naturally anxious about their condition and may not be feeling their best. You will be receiving significant amounts of new information during your visits. You may find that having another person there to act as an extra pair of “ears,” to take notes, to ask questions you might not think of at that moment-and to offer you emotional support-is very much to your advantage. Don’t hesitate to ask any of our staff questions you may have.