Questions to ask about treatment
Your appointments with your doctor or nurse are the best time to ask any questions you have about your treatment for relapsed indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It is important that you have all the information you need about your disease and its treatment, particularly if your treatment will not be the same as you have had before. This will help you understand what is happening to you and what to expect in the future.
Don’t hesitate to ask your healthcare team anything you want to know. Doctors and nurses are often busy, but they’ll never be too busy to talk to you, or to find the right person to talk to you about your concerns. It is also important that your healthcare team know what is bothering you so they can help overcome the problem, or answer the question.
Preparing your questions before you go can be useful
It is often useful to write down your questions before the appointment, as it can be difficult to remember everything at once. You may also like to write down some of the details that the doctor tells you so that you don’t forget, or so you can tell your family or friends afterwards.
You might even want to ask your family or friends if they have any questions they’d like to add to your list, as they may think of things or have concerns that you hadn’t thought of.
Questions you might want to think about
Questions about the treatment itself
- What is the aim of this treatment?
- What are the treatment options?
- What drugs or therapies are involved? How do they work?
- How is the treatment given?
- How long does the course of treatment last? How often is it given?
- How is this different from treatment I have had before?
- Why is this different from treatment I have had before?
- Can I continue working/taking care of my children?
Questions about the treatment visits
- Will the treatment have to be given in hospital, or can it be done on an outpatient basis?
- If it is in hospital, how long am I likely to have to stay in hospital for each treatment session?
- If it is on an outpatient basis, how many hours is each treatment session likely to take?
- Will I be attending the same clinics or departments as before? Will I be seeing different healthcare staff than before?
- Can I take someone with me to a treatment visit?
Side effects and how the treatment will affect you
- Will treatment affect my normal activities? If so, for how long, and in what way?
- Might it be necessary to take time off work or to make special arrangements?
- What side effects might there be? For example, will I feel sick or lose my hair?
- Are there things I can do to avoid these side effects, or at least to minimise them?
- What side effects should be reported?
- Is there anything in particular I should look out for during a treatment visit? Or when I’m at home between treatment visits?
- Will I feel different to last time or should I expect the effects of this treatment to be the same?
What to expect
- How do we know if the treatment is working?
- What are my chances of a remission?
- How long is a remission likely to last?
- Can I expect my remission to be similar to last time?
- Is there any chance of a cure?
Who to contact if you are worried about anything
- When should I contact the specialist if I am worried about something?
- When is it more appropriate to contact the nurse?
- What about the family doctor?
- Are there any patient support groups I can speak to?
Questions you should consider once your treatment is over
- What will successful treatment mean for me and how long will the benefits last?
- What further tests might be needed? How often might they be needed?
- What will these tests show?
- How often will I have to attend the clinic? For how long?
- What happens if my non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma relapses again?
- What are the likely signs of relapse?
- Will they be any different from the symptoms I have experienced before?
- Is there anything I can do to help keep the disease away during remission?