Oncology FAQs

I’ve received a can­cer diag­no­sis. What’s next?

Many times your pri­ma­ry care provider will refer you to one of our oncol­o­gists. Our oncol­o­gy team will con­tact you direct­ly to set up an appoint­ment, or, in some cas­es, speak to your pri­ma­ry care provider with this infor­ma­tion who will share the details of your appoint­ment with you.

What hap­pens at my first can­cer appointment?

We wel­come you to bring a fam­i­ly mem­ber, friend, or care­giv­er to your appoint­ments. You may also want to bring a note­book to write infor­ma­tion about your diag­no­sis, treat­ment, or any oth­er ques­tions you may have.

1. When you arrive at QMG’s Can­cer Insti­tute you will check in with our recep­tion­ists at the front desk. You will need to ensure to bring a copy of your insur­ance card (med­ical and prescription).
2. Once you are checked in one of our nurs­es will bring you to a con­sul­ta­tion or an exam room to go through the ini­tial paper­work and infor­ma­tion which includes:
3. New Patient Form: This form will ask for infor­ma­tion regard­ing your med­ical his­to­ry, sur­gi­cal his­to­ry, fam­i­ly his­to­ry, and cur­rent medications.
4. Pho­to: Your nurse will cap­ture your pho­to for patient ver­i­fi­ca­tion purpose.
5. Release Form
6. Resource mate­ri­als regard­ing your diagnosis
7. Infor­ma­tion about our Can­cer Care depart­ment and con­tact infor­ma­tion to get in touch with us.
8. If you are not already in an exam room, your nurse will take you to one. He or she will then com­plete your vital signs (blood pres­sure, heart rate, tem­per­a­ture, height, and weight). You may be asked to remove your shoes for your height and weight.
9. Your doc­tor will come in next to meet you and talk to you fur­ther about your diagnosis.

What hap­pens when I meet with the doctor?

When the doc­tor comes in to see you, he or she will explain your diag­no­sis and the details sur­round­ing it. They will begin by explain­ing their rec­om­men­da­tions for treat­ment, whether it be sur­gi­cal inter­ven­tion, chemotherapy/​immunotherapy (infu­sion or oral), or radiation.

When do I ask for a sec­ond opinion?

Empow­er­ing your­self with all the infor­ma­tion avail­able is cru­cial for your health deci­sions. A sec­ond opin­ion can pro­vide valu­able insights and con­firm your ini­tial diag­no­sis or treat­ment plan. Our team is hap­py to assist you in set­ting up a refer­ral for a sec­ond opin­ion. Don’t hes­i­tate to reach out and dis­cuss your options. Remem­ber, your well-being is our pri­or­i­ty. If you choose a facil­i­ty out of the area, we can work with them to pro­vide rou­tine care and infu­sions right here in Quin­cy. This will reduce your time away from home, friends, and fam­i­ly while pro­vid­ing the best treat­ment experience.

When do treat­ments start?

Start dates for your treat­ment depend on the loca­tion of your can­cer, stage, and Nation­al Com­pre­hen­sive Can­cer Net­work (NCCN) guide­line rec­om­men­da­tions. Our Can­cer Insti­tute team fol­lows these rec­om­men­da­tions which are con­sid­ered the gold stan­dard in oncol­o­gy. We do not begin treat­ments with­out insur­ance approval.

When do I meet with a care navigator?

Typ­i­cal­ly at your first con­sult with our Can­cer Insti­tute team, you’ll meet your care nav­i­ga­tor. The care nav­i­ga­tor is there with you through­out your care to sup­port you.

What kind of ques­tions can or should I ask?

All of them. We want you to feel com­fort­able with our entire team, the nurs­es, doc­tors, advanced prac­tice providers, care nav­i­ga­tors, and finan­cial coun­selors. No ques­tion is off-lim­its, and we are here to help you.

• What’s the cancer’s stage? What does that mean?
• Will I need oth­er tests before we can decide on treatment?
• What are my treat­ment choices?
• Will my treat­ment make me sick?

The Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety web­site is a great resource for can­cer patients and the work­sheet at this link has a com­pre­hen­sive list of questions.

What is hematology?

Hema­tol­ogy is the sci­ence or study of blood and blood dis­eases. All of our can­cer care physi­cians are board-cer­ti­fied in oncol­o­gy and hema­tol­ogy. Hema­tol­ogy includes the treat­ment of blood can­cers includ­ing leukemia, lym­phoma, and myelo­ma, but con­di­tions treat­ed by a hema­tol­o­gist are not always relat­ed to cancer

Why do I need to see a hematologist? 

If your pri­ma­ry care provider wants you to see a hema­tol­o­gist, that doesn’t mean you have can­cer. A hema­tol­o­gist has addi­tion­al train­ing and edu­ca­tion on dis­eases of the blood. Your pri­ma­ry care provider may feel our hema­tol­o­gists are bet­ter suit­ed to treat­ing a vari­ety of blood dis­or­ders such as ane­mia, hemo­phil­ia, and blood clots.

What is infusion?

Infu­sion is where liq­uid med­i­cine is admin­is­tered intra­venous­ly. Infu­sion is done either via an IV in your hand, arm, port catheter, or PICC line. Learn more about our Oncol­o­gy Infu­sion Center >

What is chemotherapy?

Chemother­a­py is a can­cer treat­ment used most often to describe many dif­fer­ent kinds of drugs used to treat can­cer. Depend­ing on your treat­ment plan chemother­a­py is either giv­en as a pill or an infu­sion. Infu­sion is where liq­uid med­i­cine is admin­is­tered intra­venous­ly. Infu­sion is done either via an IV in your hand, arm, port catheter, or PICC line.

Can I bring some­one with me to my treatments?

Yes, we want you to feel com­fort­able while here for your treat­ment. Vis­i­tors are lim­it­ed to one vis­i­tor per patient in the treat­ment area. Excep­tions to this are dur­ing teaching/​education ses­sions and/​or spe­cial cir­cum­stances. Oth­er guide­lines include:

• Vis­i­tors must be at least 16 years old to enter the treat­ment area. Excep­tions to this are dur­ing teaching/​education ses­sions and/​or spe­cial circumstances.
• For safe­ty con­cerns, preg­nant women are not allowed in the infu­sion cen­ter, unless they are being treated.

Does my insur­ance cov­er can­cer treatments?

Before you receive treat­ment, our team research­es your insur­ance com­pa­ny and indi­vid­ual plan. Your insur­ance com­pa­ny should be able to give you an esti­mate of your cost, so you know your finan­cial respon­si­bil­i­ty pri­or to start­ing your treatment.

How much does can­cer cost? (doc­tor vis­its, chemo, pre­scrip­tions, etc.)

The cost of can­cer depends on your indi­vid­ual insur­ance plan, the type of can­cer you have, and the treat­ment reg­i­men pre­scribed. The cost varies from per­son to per­son and case to case.

Learn More About Our QMG Can­cer Institute >