Hearing you or a loved one has stage 3 breast cancer can lead to many questions — about diagnosis, survival, treatments, and more.

When you’ve first been diagnosed with breast cancer, a big question on your mind will likely be: How bad is it? Doctors determine how advanced cancer is through the diagnosis and staging process, labeling your cancer with a stage between 0 and 4.

Talking often with the health care team is important to make informed decisions about your health care. These suggested questions are a starting point to help you learn more about your cancer care and treatment. You are also encouraged to ask additional questions that are important to you.

After you get a breast cancer diagnosis, it likely won’t be long before your doctor starts talking to you about lymph nodes. Lymph node involvement is an important part of staging and treatment with breast cancer.

Simply getting a breast cancer diagnosis is good enough reason to seek a second opinion. Most people think nothing of shopping around before buying a car, renovating their home, or making some other major purchase. In the case of a cancer diagnosis, it can be helpful and even critically important to get another opinion before you make decisions about treatment.

Pathologists are doctors responsible for looking at your tissue sample under the microscope. This allows them to assess the cells for abnormalities that could lead to the diagnosis of breast cancer.