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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread) says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Metastatic cancer means the original cancer has spread to other parts of the body, most often the bones, liver, lungs or brain. It keeps the name of where it started, is treated with therapies that reach the whole body, and can increasingly be controlled for years; with limited spread it is sometimes treated with the aim of cure. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
Systemic therapy chosen by the primary cancer and its biomarkers, with early palliative care; see the individual cancer pages.
Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy or surgery to all sites in addition to systemic therapy, in selected patients and ideally in trials.
Palliative radiotherapy for pain, bone-modifying agents (zoledronic acid or denosumab) to prevent fractures, radium-223 in prostate cancer.
Stereotactic radiosurgery for limited lesions, surgery for large symptomatic ones, and brain-penetrant targeted drugs where a driver exists.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Trials open now for this cancer in OnCo, largest phase first. Joining a trial is a decision like any other: ask what the comparison arm is, whether a placebo is used, and what happens if you leave. The cancer page searches ClinicalTrials.gov live for more.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.