What should I do if a tumor is diagnosed? In the past eight years of practice, this is the most frequently asked question from my patients. Part1: Sister Fei is a patient I managed, she loves to dress up, dressing extraordinarily well, thirty-five years old, successful career, husband and wife, life is so perfect, who would have thought that the sky is falling disaster. Sister Fei was driving home when a car hit her head-on. The good thing is that Fei is not seriously hurt, but the right side of the chest vaguely some pain, in the company of her husband to our hospital to take a chest CT, no rib fractures, no hemopneumothorax, but unexpectedly found the right breast has a three-cent nodule. What is it? Is it benign or malignant. Sister Fei immediately took it seriously and was hospitalized for further examination. Through puncture biopsy, it was clearly breast cancer …… Now, Sister Fei has undergone surgery and is currently undergoing four cycles of post-operative chemotherapy in our department. Faye’s experience tells us that things are unpredictable and bad news often comes out of the blue. Nowadays, the incidence of tumor is getting higher and higher because of environmental pollution, and the second is that various examination equipments are getting more and more advanced, and the diagnosis rate of tumor is getting higher and higher. But unfortunately, more tumor patients are often found to be in the middle and late stage when they are discovered. Among the patients I have managed, Faye was discovered accidentally in a car accident, and some were found to have esophageal cancer accidentally when the doctor tried to remove the fish spike through gastroscopy. There is a couple, the husband went to the hospital because of coughing and found out that it was advanced lung cancer as soon as the examination was done, the wife did not cough, but was shocked by the husband’s experience, so she also took a chest X-ray and unexpectedly found a lung mass too …… countless cases, which can only be described in five words, never expected. Faced with sudden bad news, patients are often unable to accept it at first, just like Fei, who had no discomfort before the car accident, she had no family history of breast cancer and no history of breast augmentation. She had no family history of breast cancer and no history of breast augmentation. Without any psychological preparation, who can bear such a blow? What if the tumor is diagnosed? In eight years of practice, this is the most frequently asked question from my patients. Every time I see an outpatient or check-up, many undiagnosed patients will come to me, they are panicking and under great pressure. Part2: What doctors should do As doctors, we must first understand our patients. When there is a patient with a diagnosed tumor sitting in front of you, when he is looking for the panacea all over the world in order to live, he opens Baidu again and again to look for the legendary prescriptions, he steps through those off-the-beaten-path places, just to live better. They think that all roads lead to Rome, on the road to survival, they are confused, grief, anxiety, confusion. At this time, who can help them? Only doctors. A single word from us may even determine the life and death of a patient. Three years ago, I was approached by a female patient from a rural area who had no idea what a registered appointment was, and it was almost noon when she came to the registration office. Even though I didn’t stop for a morning, even though I was tired and my back was sore, I still chose to add the number. Oncology patients are different from other patients. For the first visit, you can ask them to stay calm, and that is simply impossible. So far, there is no effective means to cure malignant tumors unless they are detected very early, so once they are diagnosed, they are often unexpectedly sentenced to death. When he was diagnosed with rectal cancer, he already had liver metastasis, and in many hospitals, doctors advised him not to toss and turn, but later he came to me, and his rectal cancer had already developed serious obstruction. In the heart of tumor patients, doctors are always the most important. Often, tumor patients shake the hands of our medical workers to express their gratitude and say, “You are our parents. The patient’s heartfelt gratitude makes us very moved, and as oncologists, how can we not work hard. We often see such doctors, after a cursory look at the patient’s medical records, directly let the preparation of the afterlife, the family thought there was no hope, simply dragged back to wait for death. Everyone has the right to live, in the conditions to do treatment, as a doctor, we must not give up lightly. Healthy people feel tired of living, until they are in the midst of illness, they do not know how lucky it is to live healthily. In this world, living is better than everything, and only living can make everything meaningful for ourselves and our families. Therefore, as oncologists, our every action and word is crucial. One word of yours may build up a patient’s courage to overcome the disease and make him believe in science instead of throwing himself at doctors. Likewise, your words may make a patient feel insignificant to live, or even suicidal. Oncology is different from any other discipline. It requires a comprehensive knowledge of every system, from neurological to respiratory, digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, and even psychological aspects, and it requires a high level of conversation. Part3: What role does the family play When a loved one has a tumor, when bad luck comes suddenly, often it is not a person but a whole family that is washed away. The laughter that once existed may come to an abrupt end because of someone’s serious illness. When one person has a tumor, more people will fall into panic, and the first to bear the brunt is of course the family. At present, tumor heredity is overly spread, and many children of tumor patients are often in a long-term panic, fearing that the time bomb in their bodies will explode at some instant. However, this is just a worry, so when someone in the family is diagnosed with tumor, every move of the whole family is especially important, how to let the patient out of the gloom as soon as possible, how to let the laughter that has disappeared return again, this becomes something that every family member has to do. I have seen some families where the parents are suffering from tumor, but the children are still busy with their own business. They are desperately trying to make money to get the best medicine to cure their parents, but they do not know that the most important panacea that their parents need is long-lasting companionship. In terms of tumor treatment, there is no best drug but only individualized treatment plan. Some tumors, if detected early, can be removed surgically, for example, early cancer of digestive tract, if it is only confined to mucosa and submucosa, it does not even need open surgery, it can be peeled off completely under endoscopy, and radiotherapy is not needed at all after surgery. Some tumors may require radiotherapy after surgical resection, and even some of them require long-term targeted drug therapy. But no matter which treatment option, the most crucial thing is the patient and the family. With the warmth of family, patients have the confidence to overcome the disease and actively cooperate with the treatment, the recurrence rate after surgery may be very low. Some tumor patients not only face the disease, but also have to bear the pressure of family, and are in the state of anxiety and depression for a long time, the tumor often spreads very fast, and even the recurrence rate is very high. In the past eight years, although the road of medical practice is not smooth, but the good thing is that I have made most of the patients no longer afraid of cancer, made them away from Baidu, away from Putian system, away from Chinese medicine peddlers, and enter regular hospitals to receive regular treatment; through popularization of science, let them know what tumor is and what to do in the face of tumor; clothing, food, housing and transportation, meticulous, word of mouth, also let more and more people no longer confused, grief and confusion. The word of mouth has also helped more and more people to stop being confused, grieved and perplexed.