Multiple Myeloma (cont.)
Follow-up care
You'll need regular checkups after treatment for multiple myeloma. Checkups
help ensure that any changes in your health are noted and treated if needed. If
you have any health problems between checkups, you should contact your doctor.
Your doctor will check for return of cancer. Even when the cancer seems to
have been completely destroyed, the disease sometimes returns because undetected
myeloma cells remained somewhere in the body after treatment. Also, checkups
help detect health problems that can result from cancer treatment.
Checkups may include a careful physical exam, blood tests, x-rays, or bone
marrow biopsy.
You may want to ask your doctor these questions after you have finished
treatment:
- How often will I need checkups?
- Which follow-up tests do you suggest for me?
- Between checkups, what health problems or symptoms should I tell you about?
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Sources of support
Learning you have myeloma can change your life and the lives of those close
to you. These changes can be hard to handle. It's normal for you, your family,
and your friends to have new and confusing feelings to work through.
Concerns about treatments and managing side effects, hospital stays, and
medical bills are common. You may also worry about caring for your family,
keeping your job, or continuing daily activities.
Here's where you can go for support:
- Doctors, nurses, and other members of your health care team can answer many
of your questions about treatment, working, or other activities.
- Social workers, counselors, or members of the clergy can be helpful if you
want to talk about your feelings or concerns. Often, social workers can suggest
resources for financial aid, transportation, home care, or emotional support.
- Support groups can also help. In these groups, patients or their family
members meet with other patients or their families to share what they have
learned about coping with the disease and the effects of treatment. Groups may
offer support in person, over the telephone, or on the Internet. You may want to
talk with a member of your health care team about finding a support group.
- Information specialists at 1-800-4-CANCER and at LiveHelp
(http://www.cancer.gov/help) can help you locate programs, services, and
publications. They can give you names of national organizations that offer
services to people with cancer and their families.
Taking part in cancer research
Doctors all over the country are conducting many types of clinical trials
(research studies in which people volunteer to take part). Clinical trials are
designed to answer important questions and to find out whether new approaches
are safe and effective.
Research already has led to advances in treatment, such as stem cell
transplants. And doctors continue to look for better ways to treat myeloma.
Researchers are testing new drugs and drug combinations. They are also
testing ways to improve stem cell transplants for people with multiple myeloma.
Even if people in a trial do not benefit directly, they still make an
important contribution by helping doctors learn more about myeloma and how to
control it. Although clinical trials may pose some risks, doctors do all they
can to protect their patients.
NCI's Web site includes a section on clinical trials at
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials. It has general information about clinical
trials as well as detailed information about specific ongoing studies of
myeloma. Information specialists at 1-800-4-CANCER or at LiveHelp at
http://www.cancer.gov/help can answer questions and provide information about
clinical trials.
Next: What other resources are available to multiple
myeloma patients? »
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