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A little medical context

This helps our editors place your story correctly and write a brief reader-friendly note alongside it. None of this appears in the book unless you choose to include it.

Prompts — Ch 01: Understanding Your Diagnosis

• What did you wish someone had told you the day you were diagnosed?
• How did you process the news in the first week?
• Who was the first person you told, and why?

Prompts — Ch 02: Types of Cancer and Staging

• How did your team explain your specific cancer to you, and what helped it click?
• Did you seek a second opinion? Why or why not?
• What questions do you wish you had asked at the start?

Prompts — Ch 03: Common Cancer Treatments

• How did you and your doctors decide on a treatment path?
• What surprised you about the treatment itself, good or bad?
• If you could go back, what would you ask before agreeing?

Prompts — Ch 04: Side Effect Management

• Which side effect surprised you most?
• What practical tips helped you cope (food, rest, products, routines)?
• What mindset shifts made the hardest days bearable?

Prompts — Ch 05: Going Home After a Hospital Stay

• What do you remember about your first day home?
• What did no one prepare you for?
• What would you tell someone heading home tomorrow?

Prompts — Ch 06: Navigating the Healthcare System

• A win you had navigating the system, big or small.
• A frustration you faced, and how you got through it.
• Your best advice for self-advocacy in Malaysia’s healthcare system.

Prompts — Ch 07: Financial Planning and Insurance

• What was the financial reality nobody warned you about?
• What financial decisions did you get right? What would you do differently?
• Resources, schemes, or NGOs that helped you.

Prompts — Ch 08: Clinical Trials

• How did you find out about your trial?
• What factors made you say yes (or no)?
• What was the experience actually like, day to day?

Prompts — Ch 09: Nutrition and Cancer

• What changed about your appetite, taste, or eating habits?
• A meal, snack, or trick that worked when nothing else would.
• Advice you’d give about food during treatment.

Prompts — Ch 10: Rehabilitation and Recovery

• What did your physical recovery actually look like?
• A milestone, big or small, that meant a lot.
• What do you wish more people understood about recovery time?

Prompts — Ch 11: Emotional and Mental Wellbeing

• When was your lowest moment, and what — or who — pulled you through?
• A coping practice, big or small, that helped you feel like yourself.
• What you’d say to someone in their darkest week.

Prompts — Ch 12: Relationships and Family Life

• How did your relationships change after diagnosis — for better, for worse, or both?
• A conversation that mattered, with a partner, parent, child, or friend.
• What do you wish loved ones had said or done differently?

Prompts — Ch 13: Working While Under Treatment

• How did you decide what to tell your employer or colleagues?
• How did you juggle work and treatment?
• Advice for someone facing this choice tomorrow.

Prompts — Ch 14: Survivorship and Life After Treatment

• What does life look like now that you’re past treatment?
• The hardest part of survivorship people don’t talk about.
• What does ‘new normal’ mean for you?

Prompts — Ch 15: The Caregiver’s Role

• What does a typical day look like for you?
• What do caregivers actually need that people rarely offer?
• A moment with the person you cared for that you’ll always remember.

Prompts — Ch 16: Caring for Yourself as a Caregiver

• When did you first realise you were burning out?
• A self-care practice that actually works (not the cliché ones).
• What you’d say to a brand-new caregiver about looking after themselves.

Prompts — Ch 17: Communication with Healthcare Teams

• The best conversation you had with a doctor or nurse, and why it mattered.
• A miscommunication you wish you could redo.
• Your tips for getting the most out of medical appointments.

Prompts — Ch 18: Supporting Children and Families

• How did you talk to a child in your life about cancer?
• How did the diagnosis ripple through the wider family?
• What helped your family hold together?

Prompts — Ch 19: Understanding Advanced Cancer

• How did you take in the news that your cancer was advanced?
• How did your priorities shift?
• What does living well with advanced cancer look like for you?

Prompts — Ch 20: Introduction to Palliative Care

• What did you think palliative care meant before you encountered it?
• What was your actual experience of it?
• What would you say to someone hesitant to consider it?

Prompts — Ch 21: Hospice and End-of-Life Care

• How did you (or your family) come to choose hospice?
• What mattered most in those final weeks or days?
• What would you tell another family considering hospice?

Prompts — Ch 22: Home Care in a Palliative Context

• What were the practical realities of home palliative care for your family?
• The hardest emotional moment, and how you held through it.
• Resources, NGOs, or people who made it possible.

Prompts — Ch 23: Grief and Bereavement Support

• How has your grief changed over time?
• A ritual, place, or practice that has helped you carry the loss.
• What you wish people understood about grief.

Prompts — Ch 24: Patient Rights and Advocacy

• A time you (or someone you love) had to advocate hard for the right care.
• What you learnt about your rights as a patient or family member.
• What change would you most like to see in how patients are treated?

Consent

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