Twelve Questions to Bring to Your Next Appointment as a Cancer Survivor
A printable, plain-English question list that turns a rushed follow-up visit into a surveillance decision — plus what to write down afterward so the next clinician inherits it.
A follow-up visit is short. What decides whether it produces a surveillance decision is usually not how much time you get, but whether the exposure history and the open questions arrive in the room already written down. These twelve questions do that work.
Before the visit: write these down
One: what were my exact treatments, including drug names, cumulative doses, and radiation fields? Two: which late effects do those exposures put me at risk for? Three: what is my surveillance schedule for each of them, and when is the next one due?
Four: which of my current symptoms should be reported urgently rather than at the next visit? Five: who owns which part of my follow-up — oncology, cardiology, primary care?
During the visit: ask these out loud
Six: does anything in my treatment history change the standard screening ages for me? Seven: should I have a baseline heart-function study, and if I already had one, when should it repeat? Eight: are any of my current medications ones I could safely stop or taper?
Nine: what would make you want to see me sooner? Ten: is there a referral you would recommend now rather than later?
After the visit: capture these two
Eleven: what decisions were made today, and what is the next date on the calendar? Twelve: what should the next clinician who sees my chart know first?
Write the answers into your own record the same day. A visit that is not written down is a visit the next clinician cannot inherit.
Frequently asked questions
- What if my clinician does not know my late-effect risks?
- That is common outside survivorship clinics and is not a reason to change clinicians. Bringing a written exposure list and a surveillance schedule lets a generalist act on guidance they have not memorized.
- Should I print this or keep it on my phone?
- Both work. A printed page is easier to hand across a desk; a phone copy is harder to lose. The appointment-prep tool prints a one-page version with your own entries filled in.