Newly diagnosed: brain tumor
Newly diagnosed with a brain tumor? Here is this week.
Newly diagnosed with a brain tumor, the appointments are already stacking up: a brain tumor can touch speech, movement, memory or none of them, and the plan may be surgery, radiation, watching, or all three in turn. Whatever the plan, the first week looks the same for the family, so this week gets the surgeons and doctors onto one page, the scans onto one calendar, the family into one private circle, and the patient a voice if words get hard.
What to do this week
Put every doctor on the Care Team page
One card per person: a name, a role and a phone number to tap and call. A card has no login; when a clinician should read the record, Give access turns the card into a login with a single-use code for that discipline, and the person joins at the IDC Team sign-in.
Where it lives: Care Team page · Read how it works
Every scan and visit on one calendar
Appointments keeps every clinical visit: the neurosurgeon, imaging, radiation, the follow-ups, with where to go, what to bring, the ride and who goes along. Nothing can overlap: a time already held is refused with what holds it. After the visit, the family writes what happened and when the next one is.
Where it lives: Appointments page · Read how it works
Say what hurts and ask the questions
The Communicate page speaks a phrase with one tap, with pain from 0 to 10 and where it hurts on the Emergency page, and Medical Words explains hospital words in plain language with questions the patient can tap to ask the team.
Where it lives: Communicate page · Read how it works
Visiting, without fifty texts
Visit Planning shows where the patient is with the visiting hours; a shareable visit link lets a guest request a time, with no medical information on it, and the family answers Approved, Please wait or Not today. While the patient is in a facility, the Room Schedule shows who is in the room and when.
Where it lives: Visit Planning page · Read how it works
Today: the surgeons on one page, every scan on one calendar, a voice with one tap and visiting without fifty texts.
How to start
Create a free account: your name, email, a password and who the app is for, with the patient's name. Communicating is never behind a paywall, so nothing on this page waits on a card.
The first time you sign in, choose Set up the patient's care or Start talking now: a few questions, one per screen, saved as you answer, that open the right pages first and become the patient's plan.
From My People, tap Invite family and friends: each person gets a personal link that works once and a role (full access, family, or extended). On the Care Team page, add every doctor as a card to tap and call.
Read next
- Just got the diagnosis? Here's what to do next.
- Home care, home health, hospice or palliative care? What each one means, and when you need it.
- Do you really need a caregiver, or do you need a nurse?
- How to choose the right care provider for your loved one.
- How to build a care schedule for your parent or loved one.
- The tools and equipment you'll actually need to care for someone at home.
- How to coordinate family visits without overwhelming anyone.
- Caregiver burnout is real. Here's how to protect yourself.
Questions people ask
The tumor has not affected speech. Is the app still for us?
Yes. The care side stands on its own: the Care Team page, Appointments, Prescriptions, Health Tracking, Visit Planning and the family feed. Communicate is there the day it is needed, and the condition mode can change any day.
Can the family record what happened at each visit?
Yes. Each appointment card has a place for what happened and when the next one is, and past visits fold under Coming up. Health Tracking keeps symptoms and events with the time and who logged them.
What if the patient is moved to another hospital?
The record goes along. Visit Planning shows the new place, floor and room with its visiting hours, the days of the move go on the Schedule, and every login keeps working from wherever the family is.
Is it free to start?
Yes. Free is where everyone starts, and communicating is never behind a paywall: tap to speak, the phrase boards, the sentence builder, Letters, the Phrase Library, lessons, Games and Play, the emergency screen, the Emergency Plan Card and the built-in voice. Free also invites 2 family members to the Family and Friends Feed. The Pricing page shows the plans side by side.
What happens after I sign up?
Sign up asks for your name, email and a password, and who the app is for. Then the guided setup takes four short steps: who the app is for and the condition mode, text and button sizes, a voice and the first people, then a review. Entering the patient's name and date of birth pins the two phrases hospitals ask for constantly.