Twenty years ago, when I said I was a doctor specializing in oncology, people would be shocked and would not want to hear the word cancer, and many people’s understanding of leukemia was only some concepts in the TV series “Blood Clot”. If someone around you has cancer, everyone will be surprised because the incidence rate of tumor is really low. However, along with the improvement of people’s living standard, the incidence rate of tumor has increased significantly, and malignant tumor has become the first cause of death in China. We are no longer strangers to tumors. There are always rumors that colleagues and neighbors around us have gotten lung cancer, breast cancer, intestinal cancer and even ovarian cancer at a young age. But when it comes to your own head, I am afraid no one can easily accept it. Dong Wenchuan, Department of Medical Oncology, Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University There are three ways for patients to learn about their illness: the first one is the most common one, that is, to learn by chance that they have cancer from their family members or even medical staff. By definition, doctors will not tell patients the diagnosis directly, but there may be abbreviations of the diagnosis on the small card at the nurse’s desk or on the application form for sending tests, or the patient may overhear it by chance during the shift handover, and these cases may happen, or they may see the result directly by picking up the report from the outpatient clinic. After learning the diagnosis by chance, most people’s first reaction is to panic and think about it, always thinking that there is something wrong with the doctor’s diagnosis, that the wrong specimen was sent, etc. Other people are always in tears and refuse to accept the reality. The expression of emotions varies from person to person, and depression, anxiety, confusion, fear, impatience, etc. are all possible. Even if some people say that they are optimistic and will not be affected, there is actually a lot of inner activity. The second is to talk to your doctor about your condition, which is what I advocate the most. Patients have the right to know and should be told the basic truth. But how to tell is very learned here, not simply tell the patient that you have lung cancer, but should let the patient find hope in your conversation. Therefore, I attach great importance to the conversation before treatment in my clinical work. After our professional conversation and psychological guidance, the patient’s emotion will be easier to transition to a basically normal state. The third kind is that the patient has been concealed for a long time, and his condition is always bad, or he has not received professional treatment at all, but only given general treatment, such as traditional Chinese medicine treatment, and his family told himself the truth only when he had no choice, and the patient suddenly learned that he had a tumor, although he had guessed it before, but he really understood his condition, and at this time the patient’s emotion is also very badly controlled. It is not easy to calm down even if you are a great man or have good psychological quality, but the key is not to be scared by yourself, emotional instability will affect your treatment and life, and even make very inappropriate decisions. Bad emotions need to be ventilated, need the company of the closest people, but the general words of comfort will not help, when the need for professional guidance is very important. In foreign countries, there are psychologists or chaplains to provide guidance, but in China, there are too few psychologists who understand the psychology of oncology patients, so I myself often act as this role to help patients through this hurdle. The main reasons for patients’ fear are lack of understanding of tumor, fear of pain and fear of death, and relatively speaking, fear of pain is more obvious. When I was communicating with patients, many of them expressed, “Actually, I am not afraid of death, I have lived so much, I am not afraid of death, don’t torture me to death. Everyone’s impression is actually the situation many years ago. With the progress of medicine, tumor treatment has also made great progress, although it cannot be said to avoid no pain, but the quality of life has improved greatly than before. So the fear of patients is actually very important because of the lack of understanding of tumor. Even in our hospital, there are many patients who do not choose to be treated in oncology department, one of the reasons is that family members do not want patients to know their condition, or patients do not admit that what they have is malignant tumor. If a patient knows his condition in general, he will take the initiative to learn about it, whether from doctors, patients, or media and books, so that he will get through the fear stage quickly. For my own patients, I usually communicate with the family first and then, in the presence of the family, use metaphors to let the patient understand the situation and choices he or she is facing and encourage him or her to actively cooperate with the treatment. With psychological counseling, usually for roughly 2-3 days, most patients are basically able to get past their fear and begin to accept treatment. Unless the condition is too acute, I prefer to allow the patient to adjust emotionally before proceeding with treatment, which would otherwise increase the patient’s fear in the event of an adverse reaction to treatment. Some patients have reported that the doctor who treated me before rarely communicated with me and only provided me with treatment plans, and it was difficult to say a few words. In this case, you can also rely on yourself. Nowadays, the internet is very developed, you can learn about tumor related knowledge through your family members online, and you can also ask your doctor for advice on special problems, in this case, the doctor usually will not reject your questions. Before the treatment, you should understand the adverse reactions related to the treatment, such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, diet that may occur during chemotherapy, or hair loss that you are more concerned about, etc., so that you will not be afraid during the treatment because you are not prepared. However, there are various information on the internet, and you can’t believe all of them. If you have a disease, you should still choose regular treatment and not believe in prescriptions and various health products. Even if the survival period of tumor is objective, there is no need to panic. The key is to think how to improve your quality of life, pay attention to your diet and living, and pay attention to the harmonious coexistence with your family. Tumors are often unpredictable and there is no thought preparation for the patients. Before hospitalization you may be the mainstay of the unit, moreover the head of the family at home, and there are many unfulfilled obligations, so once you get sick, you are often not only worried about your future, but also more about your career and family attachment and obligations, and it is also easy to appear pessimistic, and it is not easy to adjust. In clinical work, such a patient often needs more mental care and it takes strategies to get him to switch roles. Patients themselves should understand that by putting down their jobs and accepting the care of their families, taking care of themselves is actually taking care of their families. To date, the vast majority of cancers are still unknown diseases and there is no cure. If you just see this, I am afraid you can easily feel afraid or even despair. If you think about which day you will die every day, you will not only not survive, but this bad emotion will also affect your whole life and even the life of your loved ones who you love most. The onset of tumor is related to bad emotion, and the disease progress is also related to emotion. If you are depressed all day long, even the best treatment will not save your life. If you maintain an optimistic mood and face life positively, sometimes even advanced tumors can be miraculous. I have a patient who was initially diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and her survival period was expected to be only six months at that time, but she was very optimistic and open to the disease, actively cooperated with the treatment, discharged from the hospital and actively participated in community activities, and survived with the tumor for eight years. There are many such examples among our patients, and those who can create miracles are mostly more open-minded and optimistic.