(NC) Being diagnosed with a serious illness can come with a range of emotions that can make it difficult to talk about the diagnosis and what it will mean. However, these conversations are important and will play a vital role in the journey ahead.

With a diagnosis comes a lot of information. It’s normal to not be able to absorb it all at one time. Whether it is at a current appointment or future ones, it's good to ask questions – even more than once. Here are three ways to help open the discussion:

Understand how the illness will impact your life. Some serious illnesses can be cured, others can be managed over a lifetime, and some can shorten a person’s life. Understanding the nature of an illness will help prepare for future decisions. Some key questions to ask at diagnosis are:

• Can the illness be cured? Can it be managed through treatment?
• How will this illness affect my day-to-day life?
• Will it get worse over time? Will it shorten my life?

Ask what can be expected moving forward. Clarify whether you are in the beginning, middle or later stage of the illness. Ask about key milestones and decision points and how to plan for them. From there, work to understand what the general pattern of the illness looks like and any symptoms that you might expect. Explore what different options exist for treatment and any possible side-effects of that treatment.

Explore available care and decision-making. Care planning is extremely important to ensure you have everything in place when it’s needed. Think about what is most important to you and those closest to you and share this with your care team. Ask your care providers about which options are available to best support you. Palliative care, for example, is a type of care that can help manage your illness and offers physical, emotional, social and spiritual support. It can also connect you, and those closest to you, to local grief support services. Start asking questions in your illness journey as early as possible to ensure you know about all resources that are available.

Learn more at canada.ca/palliative-care.