Asbestos is a naturally-occurring substance which was found to be useful in a whole host of industries.
Also See – What is Asbestos?
- Exactly what is meant by the term mesothelioma?
- How do I get copies of my medical records?
- Help Issues
- What does my family need to know?
- How can friends find out what to do?
- Hospice
- Discussing Difficult Issues: Talking to your family about your wishes
- Wills and Advance Directives
- Are their different types of mesothelioma? What are the differences?
- What does the word pleura mean?
- Who is at risk for developing mesothelioma?
- Is there a specific cause for mesothelioma? If so, what is it?
- How can mesothelioma be prevented?
- What kinds of symptoms might I experience from mesothelioma?
- My doctor suspects mesothelioma. If that’s what I have, how will the doctor diagnose it?
- Are there any blood tests that might indicate that I have mesothelioma?
- What kinds of tests might the doctor order to see if I have mesothelioma?
- What is a biopsy? How is it done? What kind of biopsy should I have done?
- Who will tell me the results of my biopsy? Can I be sure that the diagnosis of mesothelioma is correct?
- How do you know if your doctor has experience treating mesothelioma?
- Do I need another (second) opinion?
- How will I find a doctor to give me a second opinion?
- What kinds of doctors treat mesothelioma?
- How do I know where I should receive treatment?
- What can I do to make the most possible out of my doctor visits?
- What can I expect at a mesothelioma treatment center?
- Why does my cancer need to be “staged?” How is it done?
- What are the specifics of staging? How is the information put together to find a stage?
- Are there other staging systems?
- In what ways can mesothelioma spread?
- What are lymph glands, also called lymph nodes?
- What does prognosis mean?
- Is mesothelioma always fatal?
- What is the outlook in my case? How long do I have to live?
- What are some of the survival statistics for mesothelioma?
- What do statistics tell me?
- What is supportive care in mesothelioma?
- What are the ways mesothelioma is treated?
- How do the doctors decide if I am healthy enough to have surgery?
- Are there specific tests that will be done in order to decide if I can have surgery?
- What kind of surgery might I have for pleural mesothelioma?
- What kind of surgery might I have for peritoneal mesothelioma?
- What about other mesotheliomas?
- What determines which surgical procedure I will have?
- What will be done to prepare me for surgery? What can I do myself?
- How will I feel after my surgery for pleural mesothelioma? How likely is it that there will there be complications?
- What will I feel like after abdominal surgery for mesothelioma? Will I have complications?
- What if I need chemotherapy? What does that mean, and how will it help me?
- What will chemotherapy be like? How often will I be treated, and how many times?
- What side effects might I experience during chemotherapy?
- What blood tests are checked during chemotherapy, and why are they checked?
- How can radiation be a therapy for cancer?
- How will the course of my treatment be arranged? How many treatments will I need?
- What equipment is used to deliver radiation?
- What actually happens during a radiation procedure? How long does it take? Will it be painful?
- What side effects can I expect from radiation treatment?
- What are my most likely treatment options?
- What is a clinical trial?
- If I want to participate in a clinical trial, how do I find out what to do? Where is there information on clinical trials for mesothelioma?
- Will I know if treatment is working? With the side effects from chemotherapy, how will I be able to tell? What if my tumor “remains stable?”
- Will I have a number of choices? What if I don’t qualify for the trial I want to participate in?
- Are there new, experimental treatments being investigated to treat mesothelioma?
- What is complementary therapy? What is alternative therapy? What is the difference? Should I consider either or both of these?
- When faced with the decision of which treatment to choose, how will I know what to do?
- Will the fatigue ever go away (like after treatment is over)?
- I am tired all the time. Why am I tired, and what can I do about it?
- I know I feel sad, which seems normal considering the situation. How would I know if I am depressed? Can that be treated?
- What can I do about my shortness of breath, which is really preventing me from doing a lot of things?
- I am very worried about my pain. What if nothing can be done to help me? What if I take narcotics and get addicted?
- Constipation is an issue, partly because of my pain medicine but also just in general. What can I do about constipation?
- What is a deep venous thrombosis? Why is it dangerous? Could it happen to me? How can I try and prevent it?
- I know people have horrible nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy. What can be done to help me with that?
- Will chemotherapy make all my hair fall out? What can I do about it?
- Will radiation therapy make all my hair fall out?
- How do I know why I am coughing or whether I need to do something about it?
- I have lost my appetite. What can I do?
- Will the side effects of my treatment be permanent? Will I have more side effects later on?
- How should I eat after being diagnosed with mesothelioma? Should I change my diet? Do I need supplements, and if so, which supplements? Is there any relationship between diet and survival in patients with mesothelioma?
- What are the benefits of exercise for mesothelioma patients?
- Should I return to work, and when?
- How often will I be seeing the doctor?
- What about vaccinations?
- Will my insurance pay for my treatment? How much will I have to pay?
- What about other kinds of insurance?
- If my mesothelioma comes back, where is it likely to recur?
- How is recurrence treated?
- What if my mesothelioma doesn’t respond to treatment?
- What other documents to I need?
- How will I know if I should stop treatment?
- Do I have any legal rights, having been diagnosed with mesothelioma? What if I was exposed to asbestos while working?
- How do I find a lawyer?
- What if my mesothelioma is the result of doing my job?
- What records does my lawyer need?
- Can I wait and take care of this later?
- Where can I go to get help in dealing with my own stress?
- How can I keep in touch with everyone and try to keep the family together when things are difficult?
- What do I do when something goes wrong in the middle of the night?
- How can I get help with the day-to-day demands?
