Before Your First Appointment

This page contains resources to help you feel empowered and prepared for your initial treatment planning appointment at BCI.

Contents:

1. Coping with a New Diagnosis

Emotional Wellbeing
Breast Cancer Information

2. Preparing for Your First Appointment

Finding trustworthy and reliable breast cancer information
Understanding the healthcare system
Your health and lifestyle
Making Treatment decisions

What to Expect Working with Your BCI Team

We understand your recent diagnosis can be very distressing and may cause anxiety for yourself and your loved ones. You may be experiencing a whirlwind of emotions and not know where to start.

Research has shown that women who are engaged and work in collaboration with their treatment team feel:

increased feelings of control during this time in their life
more confident and capable in making treatment decisions
more satisfied with their treatment plan
have less complications and side effects.

We highly recommend listening to the podcast episode: “Forged in fire: relationships with your medical team and self advocacy”. Click here to listen.

If you already attended your BCI appointment and have a plan for your treatment,
please visit Preparing for Treatment

1. Coping With a New Diagnosis

Emotional Wellbeing

PODCAST: DIAGNOSIS SHOCK

With Dr Charlotte Tottman, we hear about Charlotte’s diagnosis story including the initial shock and common reactions in the aftermath of a cancer diagnosis. Charlotte discusses physical and psychological responses, including fight and flight, information control, and anxiety spikes.  We also explore what information and tactics helped her process the information and how she told her loved ones of the news.

PODCAST: SETTING HEALTHY BOUNDARIES
After a cancer diagnosis and treatment, you often discover you are not able to operate at the same level as you did pre-cancer, physically, cognitively and emotionally. In this episode, Charlotte explains the importance of boundary setting in self-care, particularly in relation to the challenges in continuing to care for loved ones while navigating a cancer experience, and the role of guilt in this.

WORRY TIME EXERCISE
Guideline, MindSpot

COPING WITH UNCERTAINTY
Structured problem solving worksheet

Breast Cancer Information

MYTHS ABOUT BREAST CANCER
factsheet, Breast Cancer Network Australia

OPTIMAL CARE PATHWAY FOR BREAST CANCER
the Australian government endorses a recommended treatment pathway for breast cancer

OPTIMAL CARE PATHWAY FOR ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE WITH CANCER
Government endorsed guideline for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander People with cancer

JUST DIAGNOSED, WHAT NEXT? Webcast

2. Preparing for your First Appointment

When receiving treatment for breast cancer, ACTIVE PARTICIPATION is important.

Active participation is when you work with your healthcare team in partnership.

You are considered an important member of your treatment team!

There are 4 ways you can prepare to be an active participant:

Step 1. Seek out trustworthy and reliable information
Step 2. Improve your ability to understand the healthcare system (known as health literacy).
Step 3. Reflect on your lifestyle and other health issues
Step 4. Making Treatment decisions. Identify what is important to you.

Step 1: Seek out trustworthy and reliable information

You may be seeking out information to understand more about your condition and its treatment. Finding resources you can trust is very important to ensure the information you find is accurate!

Learning how to find reliable information

Use the following resources to learn how to find information that is reliable or can be trusted.

Developing this skill is important when navigating healthcare services and can help prevent anxiety and distress. This will also allow you to feel confident when when making decisions about treatment.

MYTHS ABOUT BREAST CANCER
Factsheet, Breast Cancer Network Australia
TRUST OR TRASH?
Tool to help you find reliable health information including websites, handouts, and booklets.

Step 2: Improve your Health Literacy

Health literacy relates to how people access, understand, and use health information. People with low health literacy are at higher risk of treatment complications.

PODCAST: RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR MEDICAL TEAM AND SELF ADVOCACY
Your medical team is often comprised of a group of professionals who you don’t know and who come into your life at short notice, in a highly stressful and emotional time. Charlotte shares how it’s important to advocate for yourself and have expectations of what you can reasonably expect from different members of your medical team and what is important to you. We also learn about cognitive and behavioural strategies to help you identify your individual needs and tools that can assist.
CHECK BACK
Skills to communicate with your doctor and treating team to make sure you understand the plan
STAGE VS GRADE, THERE’S A DIFFERENCE
If you have read your pathology report, make sure you’re aware of what the terminology means
UNDERSTANDING RISK
Understanding how and why risk is discussed by your doctors will help you to make more informed treatment decisions
QUESTIONS TO ASK
3 very simple questions you can ask at your first appointment.
UNDERSTANDING PRIVATE vs PUBLIC HEALTH
Factsheet, Breast Cancer Network Australia
WHAT DOES MY PRIVATE INSURANCE COVER?
Factsheet, Australian Government

Step 3: Reflect on Your Lifestyle and Other Health Issues

At your first appointment, your treating team will conduct a thorough examination. You can help us keep you safe during the treatment planning process by ensuring that the information you provide us is accurate.

MEDWISE APP
App to help you keep track of your medications
PRINTABLE MEDICATIONS LIST
PDF Medication list that can be printed
MY HEALTH RECORD
You can access your own health record
CHANGES TO DISCUSS
You may find this worksheet helpful to write down how you have been feeling physically and mentally that may be relevant to your appointment
FAMILY HEALTH HISTORY LOG
It may be helpful to document any conditions that run in your family as it may come up during your consultation

Step 4: Making Treatment Decisions. Identify what is important to you.

Identifying your personal goals helps your medical team plan your treatment. It is important you tell us about them!

Some examples of things to discuss with us:
– you’re worried how you would cope if you lost your breast
– if you’d like to start a family or have more children
– if you’ve recently retired and have long-term travel planned
– if you’re a fulltime carer for a family member or loved one
– if you’re worried about getting to and from appointments

PODCAST: RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR MEDICAL TEAM AND SELF ADVOCACY
Your medical team is often comprised of a group of professionals who you don’t know and who come into your life at short notice, in a highly stressful and emotional time. Charlotte shares how it’s important to advocate for yourself and have expectations of what you can reasonably expect from different members of your medical team and what is important to you. We also learn about cognitive and behavioural strategies to help you identify your individual needs and tools that can assist.
VALUES SELF EXPLORATION WORKSHEET
PDF can be printed
WORRY TIME EXERCISE
guideline, MindSpot
COPING WITH UNCERTAINTY
structured problem solving worksheet

Making Treatment Decisions

RECONSTRUCTION – BRECONDA DECISION AID
If you breast needs to be removed, we are often able to offer reconstruction at the time of your procedure to remove the cancer. This website helps make decisions as to the type of reconstruction that would work best for you.

CHEMOTHERAPY – BEFORE OR AFTER SURGERY?
Chemotherapy may be recommended before or after surgery. Therapy before surgery is known as Neoadjuvant therapy. To help you in understanding or deciding if neoadjuvant therapy is appropriate for you, visit this decision aid.

Disclaimer

This site contains information, data, documents, policies, procedures, guidelines, images and general health promotion material pages prepared by Westmead Breast Cancer Institute ("the Information") for and on behalf of the Western Sydney Local Health District. Westmead Breast Cancer Institute wishes to make available the Information to better inform the community. The information is protected by copyright.

The information also includes information derived from various third parties ("the third party Information") which is neither endorsed or supported by Westmead Breast Cancer Institute, and/or Western Sydney Local Health District and/or State of New South Wales and does not necessarily reflect any policies, procedures, standards or guidelines of Westmead Breast Cancer Institute, Western Sydney Local Health District or the State of New South Wales.
Whilst the Information and the third party Information contained on this site have been presented with all due care, Westmead Breast Cancer Institute and/or Western Sydney Local Health District and/or the State of New South Wales do not warrant or represent that the information or the third party information are free from errors or omissions.

The information and the third party information are made available on the understanding that Westmead Breast Cancer Institute, and/or Western Sydney Local Health District and/or the State of NSW and their respective employees and agents shall have no liability (including liability by reason of negligence) to the users for any loss, damage, cost or expense incurred or arising by reason of any person using or relying on the information and/or the third party information and whether caused by reason of any error, negligent act, omission or misrepresentation in the information or the third party information or otherwise.

Further, whilst the information and the third party information are considered to be true and correct at the date of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of the information and the third party information. The information and the third party information may change without notice and Westmead Breast Cancer Institute and/or Western Sydney Local Health District and/or the State of NSW are not and will not be , in any way, liable for the accuracy of any information printed and stored or in any way interpreted and used by a user.
Westmead Breast Cancer Institute and/or Western Sydney Local Health District and/or the State of NSW take no responsibility for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of the information and/or the third party information nor for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of links or references to information sources (including Internet Sites) outside of this site. Links to other Internet Sites are not under the control of Westmead Breast Cancer Institute or Western Sydney Local Health District or State of New South Wales and are provided for information only.

Although care has been taken in providing these links as suitable reference sources, due to the changing nature of the Internet content, it is the responsibility of the users to make their own investigations, decisions, enquiries about the information retrieved from other Internet Sites. Provision of these links does not imply any endorsement, non-endorsement, support or commercial gain by either Westmead Breast Cancer Institute, Western Sydney Local Health District or the State of New South Wales.

Westmead Breast Cancer Institute, Australia

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