Questions to Ask Your Doctor

Even though you may have already been managing a primary cancer, you will still have many questions for your medical team about your metastatic brain tumor diagnosis. Consider putting together a list of questions about brain metastases and treatment options. You may also consider getting a second opinion at a facility specializing in advanced treatment of brain mets.

• What is the percentage risk for people with my primary cancer that it metastasizes to the brain?
• Are single or multiple brain metastases more common with my primary cancer type?
• How many metastatic brain tumors do you treat each year?
• Do you have any patient materials about brain metastases?
• How will brain mets affect my functioning?
• What are my treatment options?
• Which do you recommend and why?
• Do you recommend more than one treatment?
• What is the timeline for my treatment?
• Where will I receive treatment?
• Can I drive to and from the hospital for my treatment by myself or will I need a family member or friend to take me?
• Does my insurance cover the treatment you are recommending?
• How will this affect my job / work schedule?
• Will I need to apply for disability? Social security disability?
• Will I need to take medications? If so, which ones and how often?
• Are there any side effects to the treatment? To the medications?
• What are the short and long-term side effects?
• How will I manage my side effects?
• Will my quality of life change? Will I function differently?
• What will happen before, during and after my treatment?
• What is the follow-up plan if the recommended treatment doesn’t work?
• Do you have support groups here that you can recommend?
• Do you have clinical trials available for newly-diagnosed (and recurrent) tumors of my type?