Question Your Doctor
Below are several questions I would ask the doctor after a diagnosis of cancer is confirmed. If the questions make the doctor uneasy, you are dealing with a physician who may not be your best choice. Do not apologize for asking questions, now, or any time during treatment. (Additional questions will occur to you as you go through therapy.) Ask and get answers or look for another doctor. Just remember: ask with a smile and be nice.
Caution: If your loved one is a child, you will be pressured to move quickly and your choices of where and when to be treated will be limited. Many pediatric oncologists will report you to Child Protective Services if you hesitate.
We were turned in to Child Protective Services less than a week after diagnosis for hesitating to start therapy. The doctor reported us for "Refusing medical treatment of a child." We were simply investigating different hospitals and treatments. You do have the right, as parents of a child with a life-threatening disease, to change hospitals and doctors any time, as long as you continue treatment. We made a change just four weeks into therapy. The doctors gave us a hard time about leaving, but we left for a number of reasons discussed in the book, including cleanliness and sanitary conditions. (Adults with cancer can do what they please about treatment.)
Here is a short list of questions to ask to help you decide at the outset if this is the doctor you want to treat your loved one:
1. What is the nature of the cancer and what is the overall survival rate?
2. What is the recommended treatment? Why?
3. Do you recommend a port or a central line? What is the difference between the two? (The choice is yours, but you should have all the facts to make an informed decision.)
4. If I choose the port, do you provide EMLA® cream to numb the area before needle insertion? (also called "accessing")
5. Do you offer a sedative to children (such as chloral hydrate) to relax the patient before accessing? (Some refer to this as "silly drink")
6. Do you prescribe an at-home nurse to administer Neupogen, or another drug like it, after each chemotherapy session to keep fevers down and build up white cell counts?
7. What, exactly, are the names of each drug you will use?
8. What are the side effects of each drug?
9. What are the signs of each drug's effectiveness?
10. Are there other options or alternative treatments?
(You can add to the list as new questions come up.)
♦ Next, learn questions to ask Before Treatment Begins.
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