Medically Reviewed On: July 11, 2008

ANNOUNCER: Hearing your doctor say "breast cancer" is a diagnosis every woman dreads. But an estimated 200,000 women this year will hear those very words. It's important that women know their next steps.

AMELIE RAMIREZ, Dr.P.H.: Women just don't know what they're going to experience. They just know that cancer is a very devastating disease. Sometimes they haven't heard the new word about what the latest research is, how far we've come now in being able to treat breast cancer.

ANNOUNCER: Key to getting started is choosing the medical team that will be responsible for a woman's care.

GENEROSA GRANA, MD: The first thing she needs to do is acquire a team of physicians that will plan her treatment, and that usually involves a surgical oncologist, a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist. For some women, surgery may be all that is necessary. For some women, radiation may not be needed, but it is important that that team is put together that will meet with her to coordinate her care.

ANNOUNCER: Finding the right team means choosing professionals with whom a woman feels at ease.

WILLIAM GRADISHAR, MD: The woman needs to identify a medical oncologist that she feels comfortable with, who's going to provide her with the information in a way that she can understand to help her guide her decision making. She may or may not elect to get a second opinion. If she does do that, that's perfectly acceptable; she should try and do it as quickly as possible because I think the biggest issue with women in this situation is there is a fear and anxiety about starting a therapy and the fear is usually exaggerated because once they start the therapy usually the level of anxiety diminishes dramatically.

ANNOUNCER: A diagnosis of breast cancer is not only frightening; it's confusing. Singer Soraya, a breast cancer survivor, remembers good advice her doctor gave when she learned of her illness.

SORAYA: He said, "We re not talking anymore. You're grabbing a pad of paper, and you're grabbing a pen and you re going to write everything down -- everything that I tell you." And I did it. And the reason why is because at that point you stop. Your brain shuts down and you don't register a thing. All I could do was just sort of copy what he was saying. It wasn't even registering. I went home that night -- couldn't look at the piece of paper. The next day I started reading it and I went, "Wow. OK, this is what I have. This is what he thinks I should do."

AMAN BUZDAR, MD: Half of the time patients are so concerned that they forget half of the things that they should be asking the physician.

ANNOUNCER: One of the most important things a woman needs to learn early on is the stage of her cancer.

AMAN BUZDAR, MD: The first thing you have to find out is, "What is the extent of the cancer? What is the stage of the disease? Is this tumor hormone receptor positive or negative? What are my chances of saving my breast? What are my chances of needing mastectomy?"

ANNOUNCER: Making an informed decision about treatment is no longer something that's left solely to the medical professionals.

GENEROSA GRANA, MD: The woman needs to weigh in with her wishes and her interests. In the days of old, the physician would tell a woman, "This is what you must do for the treatment of your breast cancer," and we have now evolved from that to an era where are a variety of choices to be made with regards to treatment. They may involve hormonal therapy; they may involve chemotherapy, or both.

SORAYA: The Internet is a great source. You have to be careful. There's a lot of misinformation on the Internet, but there's a lot of fabulous information, and I would walk into my appointments with a list and I wouldn't leave until the list was answered. And I tell that to women all the time, "Don't leave. Don't leave questioning. Leave understanding. If you can understand what they're going to do to you, you're going to help that medicine help you."

HYMAN MUSS, MD: I think the better informed you are, the more you can do for yourself. And actually you can help out the health care providers by being informed.

ANNOUNCER: Checking out where your insurance stands on cancer treatment is important while finding support from friends, family and support groups can be invaluable.

AMELIE RAMIREZ, Dr.P.H.: Talk with other women immediately. What did they do? What worked for them? And get to speak with a counselor and find out exactly what are the alternatives that they have. Go back and discuss that with their family. But at the end, the woman needs to make the final decision. But she needs all the type of information that's necessary for her to make an informed decision.

ANNOUNCER: Whatever course of treatment is chosen, it's important to acknowledge the emotional strain.

SORAYA: She can cry and she can scream and she can punch whatever's next to her. Hopefully it's not human, but if it's a pillow she should. You know we have to embrace all those emotions. It's OK. It's OK to scream. It's OK to say, you know, "Why is this happening?" That's all fine, but give yourself a window of time to do that and then knock it off. Shake it off.

ANNOUNCER: Naturally the most important message that medical professionals give is to not only be proactive but positive.

HYMAN MUSS, MD: Most women today who get breast cancer survive it. So I would try to reassure her that with proper treatment and good care that it's not -- it doesn't mean that life has ended today.