Maintain records
It is important to keep a record of the cancer treatment that your child receives and provide copies to all doctors or other health care providers involved with follow-up care, even as your child grows into adulthood. This record should include:
• The type and stage of cancer
• Dates of diagnosis, any relapses, and when treatment ended
• Types and dates of imaging tests and any surgeries
• Contact information for the hospitals and doctors who
provided treatment
• Names and total doses of all chemotherapy drugs used in treatment • The parts of the body that were treated with radiation and the total
doses of radiation that were given
• Any other cancer treatments received
• Any serious complications that occurred during treatment and how
those complications were treated
For your child
When a child, teen or young adult is diagnosed with cancer, parents and other adults involved in their daily life are key to how the family copes with the diagnosis. Learn as much as you can and move forward by focusing on the child’s or young adult’s future.
The American Cancer Society offers basic ideas for helping your children understand and cope with their cancer diagnosis:
• Parents can help by talking to their children in age-appropriate ways
about what is happening and repeating those explanations often.
• Encourage your child to express
how they feel. A hospital social
worker may be able to connect
you with specialists who know how
to help children of different ages
using play, artwork or journals.
• Try to maintain regular routines
and rules, as much as possible.
Children of all ages are
comforted by feeling that some
things stay the same when other
parts of their life are changing.
• Encourage children to stay
connected with friends and other caregivers during treatment while
they are in the hospital or not able to participate in favorite activities.
See if friends or extended family can communicate through email or
other online tools.
• Talk with your health care team about when your child can return to
school. Some children will be able to go to school off and on during
treatment. Some pediatric centers have teachers in the hospital to help
children with school work during clinic visits and hospital stays.
• Remember to take time for brothers and sisters. They need age
appropriate explanations of what is happening and time with
their parents.
• Talk with nurses, social workers, and other parents of children with
cancer about your emotions and ways to cope. Children will cope better
if their parents are getting enough support.