I would say, if you can, bring somebody with you. You could let them know some of the questions you want answers to so they can ask if you forget. Or write a list of questions and have them ready to check.

What should you be asking? Some questions I either asked or would have benefited from asking would be: "How long until my surgery?" (assuming you need it), "How much time should I plan to take off work after my surgery?" (this will give you a sense of how much recovery time you will need too); "Do you know what type of thyroid cancer I have - papillary or follicular?" "Do you expect to have to remove lymph nodes?" "Am I likely to need radioiodine treatment? If so, when will it take place." The next question may or may not be relevant in the UK, but "if I need radioiodine treatment, will I have to come off my medication for it?" (That also may be a bit into the future, but it was something I was concerned about.)

I'm not at all sure how you can prepare for the news. I was completely shocked when I heard they'd found malignancies. Even though I'd spent the morning thinking, "I might hear I have cancer today," I really didn't expect to. And I don't think the doctors were really expecting it either. Which is a reminder things can go either way. I think in my case, there was about a 80% - 95% chance it was benign, and more likely closer to the 95% and yet, that wasn't how things turned out. An 80% chance of cancer still means that one in five people in your position will hear that everything is completely fine.

One other thing that helped me, if it is possible for you, if you do get a diagnosis of cancer, was to carry on with things as normal. I got my results at about 3 o'clock on a Wednesday, then had a CT scan to check for spread and so on, then went to work the next morning, met the principal in the entrance and asked to speak to her privately and told her the situation (honestly, this was one thing that was bothering me, how to tell people). I then had to go to class, so that kept my mind occupied for a while, I can tell you.