Dr. Joseph Mikhael:
Have you been recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma? Ask your doctor these questions. Hi, everyone. Dr. Joseph Mikhael here from the International Myeloma Foundation, and I'm going to empower you with the questions to ask your doctor with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma in less than a minute.
Well, I'm sorry to hear that you've been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, but you're beginning a journey that we want to help you through at the International Myeloma Foundation. And that starts with an important conversation with your doctor. I'm suggesting you ask three questions. Question number one, do I have standard risk or high-risk multiple myeloma? That may influence the treatment you get and for how long you'll receive it. Question number two, what are my baseline studies? What is my light chain level? What is my M-spike? What are those things that we're going to follow to see that the disease is improving?
And number three, what's the treatment plan? Typically, patients are treated with a four-drug combination. Sometimes we call that a quadruplet, and they may or may not go towards an autologous stem cell transplant. Mapping out the plan with your doctor is critical so that you're engaged every step of the way, so that you can get the best treatment possible to get the deepest and most durable remission.
For more information about multiple myeloma or if you have questions, please come and visit us at myeloma.org.
