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Your doctor can help you understand the disease, its treatments and what to expect.

If your child is diagnosed with leukemia, you'll have lots of decisions to make. Open, honest communication with your child's doctor can help.

Consider asking these questions, suggested by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute:

• What type of leukemia does my child have?
• What is the stage of the disease?
• Will my child need more tests?
• What are the treatment choices?
• Which treatment or treatments do you recommend? Why?
• What are the short-term and long-term side effects of treatment?
• Would a clinical trial be right for my child?
• Have you treated other children who have this type of cancer?
• What is the best place for my child to be treated?
• How long will the treatment last?
• Will the treatment interfere with my child's school schedule?
• How long will my child be in the hospital?
• Can any of the treatments be given at home? Will I need special equipment?
• How likely is it that the treatment will work?
• If the treatment does work, how likely is it that the disease will come back again?
• When can my child go back to school?
• Should I keep my child away from people with certain diseases?
• Do you have information I can give to the school system about my child's needs during treatment?

This is a lot of information to take in at once, especially during such a trying time. It may help to write down the questions and answers, or bring a friend or tape recorder to the doctor visit.

Reviewed 4/26/2024