If my myeloma doctors don't agree how do I make decisions?

[Music] if my doctors don't agree how do I make treatment decisions so one extra complication in multiple myeloma is that the doctors don't always agree even the myeloma experts don't always agree there are different philosophies of treatment some favor less aggressive treatment some favor more aggressive treatment some favor just different types of therapies that are being used in the clinic some of it is the research that they've done in the experience that they have with those so what we suggest is that patients potentially get second or third opinions even when they're trying to make treatment decisions and as you get more educated on different ways of seeing treatment options you'll be able to ask better questions sometimes if they don't agree sometimes it's a matter of going to these second or third opinions and then making a decision based on your personal needs so sometimes somebody might want an all oral therapy and that may be really important because you live really far from the clinic and getting infusions are really tough or it might mean that you're you're younger and you want a more aggressive therapy because you want a longer you want to shoot for a longer admission point and so that some of these are personal goals and just what you want out of your therapy too in terms of your goals with having myeloma myeloma specialists do not agree on treatment protocols unfortunately myeloma is not an exact science you can find specialists who say the transplant should be the first treatment for everyone who's eligible and you can find equally good specialists who say that isn't necessarily the case they're both specialists and they both know what they're doing initial therapy can be different between specialists treatment at relapse can certainly be different between specialists we have so many treatment options now that the numbers are just exponential when it comes to treatment options and definitely there's a different philosophy on treatment and putting treatments together so specialists are not in all agreement when it comes to myeloma therapy it's very difficult for patients to make a decision when doctors don't agree the main thing that patients have to do is to educate themselves you really have to know your disease go to support groups talk to other people who have myeloma you can get good information on website such as the IMF the MMRF myeloma crowd myeloma care Leukemia Lymphoma Society has some good seminars there webinars cure talks the treatment really depends on you if your doctors don't agree you're the one who makes the final decision you have to educate yourself you put three myeloma experts in a room and give them the same information on patients all three of which will provide you with the different treatment strategy but I think the important thing is is that these myeloma specialists are so skilled and so up-to-date on the newest and best treatments and what I mean by that is that in the last four years we've had six new drugs which is phenomenal and as a result there are so many options available to them that that they can come up with a different strategy or a different treatment philosophy all of which will result in improved survival and what I mean by that is that you know as myeloma specialists often will give you something on the order of ten to twelve years of average survival where being normal seer data shows only five or six so it's very very important that it be a myeloma specialist and that they do all the right things that you want and one of which is you better decide on your own you know what are your objectives what you'll find is that myeloma specialists can provide you at least with a plan that provides me the best opportunity for improve life expectancy [Music]