Updated on: Sep 09, 2022

First Clinic Appointment - In person

When you come to the cancer centre for your first visit you might be here for a few hours. Wear something comfy and bring anything that makes standing or sitting easier for you.

First Visit Check List — A list of what to bring to your first appointment. This can also be found in "Your Guide to the Waterloo Wellington Regional Cancer Program"

First Clinic Appointment - Virtual or Phone

The WWRCP has started to do more and more appointments over something called OTN (Ontario Telehealth Network.

OTN is a secure platform for doctors and nurses to do virtual visits.

Filling Out Your Symptoms Matter

At your first appointment in a cancer clinic you might hear the words "Your Symptoms Matter" or "symptom screening". Your cancer health care team is talking about a tool created by Ontario Health - Cancer Care Ontario. Your Symptoms Matter (YSM) helps to track a number of different cancer related symptoms.

You will be asked to rate how you are feeling that day on certain symptoms such as:

Anxiety
Appetite
Depression
Drowsiness
Nausea
Pain
Shortness of Breath
Tiredness
Wellbeing

You can rank how you are feeling for each symptom from 0-10. A score of 0 means you do not have that symptom. A score of 10 means you have the worst possible experience of that symptom.

If you have low scores for the symptoms your health care team might not address them in your appointment. But if you score high on certain symptoms, or if your team sees your scores going up, they will want to talk to you about that in more detail.

Ysmkiosk1 — This is a YSM kiosk at Grand River Regional Cancer Centre. You can choose to fill out YSM on a kiosk in person or online.