Questions to Ask Your Doctor
With a complex disease like MDS, being able to communicate well with your treatment team is important. Here are sets of questions to help guide your conversations as your needs change during diagnosis and treatment. These questions will help you get the information you need, so you can make good decisions about your care.
Basic Questions to Ask Your Doctor
More Detailed Questions
Tips for Good Communication With Your Treatment Team
Basic Questions to Ask Your Doctor
About the disease
- What type of myelodysplastic syndrome do I have?
- What is the likely course of my disease (or the "prognosis")?
About laboratory test results
- What is my red blood cell count (hemoglobin), white blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and platelet count?
- What is the percentage of blast cells in my bone marrow?
- What is my karyotype?
About treatment choices and effects of treatment
- What is the full list of my treatment options?
- Which treatment do you recommend, and why?
- How soon might I feel positive effects of treatment?
- What are the side effects of the different treatments?
About your lifestyle
- What are things I can do to feel better, for general wellness and health?
- Are there any activities I should stop? Are there any activities I should begin?
More Detailed Questions
About your doctor — getting the right treatment team
- Is the doctor part of a hematology department of a teaching hospital?
- How many patients with MDS, aplastic anemia, or paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria has the doctor treated?
- Is the hospital or clinic where I will be treated an MDS Center of Excellence?
- Has the doctor been involved in any research on MDS or other blood diseases?
About the treatment that is planned
- Will this treatment address the cause of my disease or just reduce my symptoms?
- Is the treatment considered "standard" or "experimental" by doctors?
- Is it accepted by my insurance company?
- Why is this treatment recommended instead of other options?
- How long has this treatment been in use for patients like me?
- How many people have received this treatment? Were they like me in health and age?
- Will accepting this treatment impact my choices for other treatment later?
- If this treatment does not work, what is the next step?
About the course of treatment
- What will the treatment be like physically?
- What are the side effects I may expect? Over what time period?
- How can I manage side effects from the treatment?
- Are there short-term and long-term effects? What are they?
Tips for Good Communication With Your Treatment Team
