Just been diagnosed with cancer? You're not alone, and there's a lot that can help.

Hearing the word "cancer" can turn your world upside down, for you and for the people who love you. Cancer care has changed a great deal, with more ways to treat cancer and manage side effects than ever before. Here you'll find clear, friendly guides to help you understand your diagnosis, your treatment and the road ahead, one step at a time.

Updated September 30, 2026

In an emergency, call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number.

Start here

Cancer: What Now?: your first steps, one at a time (video coming soon)

Your first 30 days: a checklist

Save your cancer centre's phone numbers, including the 24-hour line for urgent problems, and share them with your family.
Ask who your main contact is, such as a nurse or navigator.
Ask your team to explain the type, stage and grade of your cancer, and ask for copies of your reports.
Ask what the goal of your treatment is, and how soon it needs to start.
If you might want children in the future, ask about fertility preservation before treatment starts.
Keep a list of all your medicines, including vitamins, herbal products and supplements, and check before starting anything new.
Buy a thermometer, and learn why a fever of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) during chemotherapy is an emergency.
Ask whether a clinical trial might be right for you.
Ask to meet a social worker for help with work, money, rides and paperwork.
Tell your team if you feel low, worried or can't sleep for more than two weeks.

Your first weeks after a cancer diagnosis: A calm, step-by-step guide to the first weeks after being told you have cancer: getting organized, understanding your diagnosis, planning treatment and finding support. (6 min read)
Questions to ask your cancer team (printable): A printable list of questions to bring to cancer appointments, grouped by topic: your diagnosis, treatment choices, side effects, clinical trials, daily life, support and follow-up. (6 min read)

Understand your diagnosis

The words in your reports, what stage and grade mean, and how cancers are found.

Cancer Screening, Explained: finding problems before they start (video, 4:39)

Understanding your cancer diagnosis: Plain-language help with the words in your cancer reports: pathology report, type, grade, stage, TNM, biomarkers and receptors, and what localized, advanced and metastatic mean. (6 min read)

Types of treatment

Surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy: what each one does, and why your plan may combine them.

Cancer Surgery, Explained: removing the cancer, and getting ready (video coming soon)
Radiation Therapy, Explained: focused energy aimed at cancer cells (video coming soon)
Chemotherapy, Explained: medicines that travel through your body (video coming soon)
Hormone Therapy, Explained: cutting off a cancer's fuel (video coming soon)
Targeted Therapy and Biologics: medicines aimed at a cancer's weak spots (video coming soon)
Immunotherapy and Checkpoint Inhibitors: helping your immune system fight cancer, and side effects to report (video coming soon)

Types of cancer treatment: an overview: A friendly overview of the main cancer treatments: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, stem cell transplant and CAR T-cell therapy, plus what the goal of treatment means. (7 min read)
Clinical trials explained: What cancer clinical trials are, how the phases work, what randomization and placebos mean, how you are protected, and how to find a trial that might suit you. (6 min read)

Cancer by cancer

Breast cancer: Understanding your diagnosis, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone and HER2-targeted therapy, and support.
Colorectal cancer: Colon and rectal cancer: what your diagnosis means, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and life afterwards.
Prostate cancer: Active surveillance, surgery, radiation and hormone therapy, and living well with prostate cancer.
Lymphoma: Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: tests, watch and wait, chemo-immunotherapy, newer treatments and support.
Thyroid cancer: Surgery, radioactive iodine, thyroid hormone pills and follow-up for thyroid cancer.

Living with treatment

Side effects, food, feelings, work, money and family: practical help for the months of treatment.

What Exercise Does for Your Body: and how much you really need (video, 4:38)
Why Sleep Matters: what happens while you rest (video, 4:54)

Managing side effects of cancer treatment: Practical, friendly tips for common side effects of cancer treatment: tiredness, nausea, mouth sores, hair loss, numbness and tingling, skin changes, low blood counts and "chemo brain." Report them, don't just endure them. (7 min read)
Eating well during cancer treatment: Practical tips for eating well during cancer treatment: getting enough protein and energy, coping with poor appetite, nausea and taste changes, food safety, and what to know about supplements. (6 min read)
Your feelings matter: emotional health and support with cancer: Fear, sadness, anger and worry are common after a cancer diagnosis. Practical ways to cope, when to ask for help, crisis support (9-8-8), talking with family, and support for caregivers. (6 min read)
Work, money and practical matters: Practical help after a cancer diagnosis: telling your employer, time off and benefits, fertility preservation before treatment, getting to appointments, and keeping paperwork in order. (6 min read)

When to get help

Call 9-1-1 now

Chest pain or pressure
Severe trouble breathing, or sudden shortness of breath
New confusion, or being very hard to wake up
A seizure (fit)
Heavy bleeding that won't stop, or vomiting or coughing up blood
New weakness or numbness in your legs, or loss of control of your bladder or bowels (possible spinal cord compression)
Fainting or collapsing, or signs of a stroke such as face drooping, arm weakness or trouble speaking

Call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number. Don't drive yourself.

Call your cancer centre now

During chemotherapy: a temperature of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher. Call your cancer centre's 24-hour line now, or go to emergency. Don't take fever medicine first unless your team told you to
Chills or shaking, even without a fever
Vomiting that won't stop, or you can't keep fluids or medicines down
Severe diarrhea, or diarrhea several times a day (report any diarrhea right away during immunotherapy)
New or worsening pain, including new back or neck pain, or pain your medicines don't control
Signs of infection: cough, sore throat, burning when you pee, or redness or pus around a wound, port or line
Unusual bleeding or bruising, or blood in your pee or poop
Pain, swelling, warmth or redness in one leg or arm
Mouth sores that stop you eating or drinking, or feeling dizzy and peeing much less than usual
During or after immunotherapy: new cough, rash, yellow skin or eyes, severe tiredness, headaches or unusual thirst

Use the 24-hour line. Don't wait for your next appointment. If you can't reach anyone and you're worried, go to emergency.

If you have any of the signs in the first list, call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number right away. Tell the paramedics and hospital staff that you have cancer and what treatment you are having. For the signs in the second list, call your cancer centre's 24-hour line now. Don't wait for your next appointment. If you can't reach anyone and you're worried, go to the nearest emergency department. When in doubt, call.

Fever and when to get help during cancer treatment: Clear lists to help you decide: a fever of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) during chemotherapy is an emergency. Plus when to call 9-1-1, when to call your cancer centre's 24-hour line, and immunotherapy side effects to report. (6 min read)

Questions to ask your team

A printable list of questions to bring to your next appointment.

Could a clinical trial be right for you?

Clinical trials are how new treatments are tested and improved. You can ask about them at any stage of care, and you are free to say no or to leave a trial.

Clinical trials explained

Go deeper

Written for clinicians and students. More technical material from Hibbert Medical, for readers who want more detail.

Podcast summaries

Cancer podcasts, summarized: Episodes from ASCO, the Journal of Clinical Oncology and other cancer shows, each with a written summary.
Palliative care podcasts: Symptom relief, goals of care and support through serious illness.
Nutrition podcasts: Researchers and dietitians on eating well, including during illness.
Mental health podcasts: Stress, mood and coping with a serious illness.
Rehabilitation podcasts: Rehab specialists on activity, fatigue and recovery.

Lectures

Oncology Principles: Medical school: how cancer is staged and how the main treatments work.
Cancer Pharmacology: Medical school: how chemotherapy and targeted drugs work.
Tumor Immunology: Medical school: how the immune system sees cancer, and how immunotherapy helps.
Oncologic Emergencies for the Internist: Residency internal medicine: fever with low blood counts, spinal cord compression and other urgent problems.
Febrile Neutropenia: Why a fever during chemotherapy is treated as an emergency.
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Toxicity: Recognizing and treating immunotherapy side effects.
Principles of Surgical Oncology: How surgeons plan cancer operations.
Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: Numbness and tingling from chemotherapy, and what helps.
Cancer-Related Fatigue: Why tiredness is so common, and the evidence for exercise and other help.
Cancer Rehabilitation: Prehabilitation Through Survivorship: Staying strong before, during and after treatment.
Palliative Care and Goals-of-Care Conversations: Talking about what matters most, at any stage of illness.

Seminars

Surgical Oncology Principles: Clerkship seminar: how cancer surgery fits with other treatments.
Gastric Cancer: Perioperative Immunotherapy: Seminar series: adding checkpoint inhibitors around surgery.
Multiple Myeloma: From CAR-T to Bispecific Antibodies: Seminar series: newer immune-based cancer treatments.

Clinical cases

Managing Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Neutropenic Fever: Side effects of chemotherapy, and why a fever needs urgent care.
Tumor Lysis Syndrome: A treatment complication that doctors watch for with blood tests.
Metastatic Melanoma Treated with Checkpoint Inhibitors: How immunotherapy works, through one patient.
Neutropenic Fever: A fever during chemotherapy, and what happens in emergency.

Oncology regimen tutorials

Monoclonal antibodies and biologics in oncology: Special tutorial: mechanisms, antibody–drug conjugates, bispecifics and class toxicities.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors and irAEs: Special tutorial: how PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 blockade works, and managing immune-related side effects.
FOLFOX (modified FOLFOX6): Oxaliplatin, leucovorin and infusional fluorouracil: doses, toxicities and monitoring.
Dose-dense AC → paclitaxel: Anthracycline then taxane chemotherapy for early breast cancer, with G-CSF support.
R-CHOP: Rituximab plus CHOP chemotherapy for large B-cell lymphoma.
ADT, ARPIs and docetaxel: Androgen deprivation plus intensification in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

Common questions

What do stage and grade mean?

Stage describes how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Many cancers are staged with the TNM system: T for the size of the main tumour, N for whether it has reached nearby lymph nodes, and M for whether it has spread to distant parts of the body. The overall stage is usually a number from 0 to 4. Grade describes how unusual the cancer cells look under a microscope. Both help your team plan the best treatment for you.

How soon does treatment need to start?

In most cases, there is time to finish tests and plan your treatment carefully, and a short wait for planning is normal. How soon treatment should start depends on your type of cancer and your situation. If you're worried about waiting, ask your team, "How soon does my treatment need to start?"

Why is a fever during chemotherapy an emergency?

Chemotherapy can lower the white blood cells that fight infection. When they are low, an infection can become serious very quickly, sometimes before you feel very sick. If your temperature is 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher during chemotherapy, call your cancer centre's 24-hour line or go to the emergency department right away. Don't take medicine to lower the fever before you call, unless your team has told you to.

Can I work during cancer treatment?

Many people keep working during treatment, sometimes with changes such as flexible hours, working from home or a lighter workload. Others need time off. It depends on your treatment, how you feel and your job. You decide how much to tell your employer. A social worker can help you understand your rights and any benefits you may qualify for.

Is it normal to feel anxious or depressed after a cancer diagnosis?

Yes. Fear, sadness, anger and worry are very common after a cancer diagnosis, for patients and for families. These feelings are real, and help is available through your cancer team, counsellors, support groups and helplines. Tell your team if low mood or worry lasts more than two weeks. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8 in Canada or the U.S., or call 9-1-1.

Sources for this page

General information, not medical advice. It does not replace your own care team. If you think you or someone else is having a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number. If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8 (Canada and the US).

All After a Diagnosis guides