Questions to Ask the Doctor

Regular communication with your child’s doctor is important in making informed decisions about your child’s health care. Consider asking the following questions of your child’s doctor:

• What type of leukemia has been diagnosed?
  
  
• What subtype of AML has been diagnosed? What does this mean?
  
  
• Can you explain my child’s pathology report (laboratory test results) to me?
  
  
• What are the treatment options?
  
  
• What clinical trials are open to my child?
  
  
• What treatment plan do you recommend? Why?
  
  
• What chemotherapy will my child receive?
  
  
• Should my child receive stem cell transplantation?
  
  
• Will my child receive radiation therapy?
  
  
• What are the possible side effects of this treatment, both in the short-term and the long-term?
  
  
• How will this treatment affect my child’s daily life? Will he or she be able to attend school and perform his or her usual activities?
  
  
• How long will my child stay in the hospital?
  
  
• What are the chances that the AML will recur?
  
  
• What follow-up tests will my child need, and how often will he or she need them?
  
  
• What support services are available to my child? To my family?