Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.
How does myeloma management using telehealth work? First and foremost, consider the two most important needs of the newly diagnosed myeloma patient.
Research shows that MM patients live better, longer lives if they work with a MM Specialist
Unfortunately, most specialists are located at large medical centers in large urban areas. You might have to drive hours to get to your appointment.
The truth is, a MM specialist is needed for big picture issues such as creating your therapy plan. A local oncologist can handle diagnostics, therapy administration, etc.
The bottom line is that you can “see” your MM specialist x number of hours away…virtuallly. Perhaps only having a traditional in office appointment with that specialist occasionally. Your local oncologist can handle everything else.
What are the advantages of telehealth to the myeloma patient?
1. Convenience and Accessibility
Reduced Travel: Myeloma patients often have compromised immune systems due to their condition and treatments, making travel risky and exhausting. Telehealth eliminates the need for frequent trips to clinics or hospitals.
Access to Specialists: Patients can consult with myeloma specialists or hematologists regardless of their location, ensuring they receive expert care even if they live in remote areas.
2. Minimized Risk of Infection
Myeloma treatments, such as chemotherapy, can weaken the immune system, increasing vulnerability to infections. Telehealth reduces exposure to healthcare settings where infections are more likely.
3. Improved Management of Symptoms
Patients can report side effects, symptoms, or treatment-related concerns in real-time, allowing for timely adjustments to medications or supportive care without waiting for an in-person appointment.
4. Emotional and Psychological Support
Virtual visits can include mental health support, such as therapy or counseling, which is crucial for myeloma patients coping with the emotional toll of their diagnosis and treatment.
5. Enhanced Monitoring
Telehealth facilitates remote monitoring of vital signs, lab results, or symptoms through wearable devices or patient-reported outcomes, helping healthcare providers stay informed about the patient’s condition.
6. Patient Education
Providers can use telehealth platforms to educate myeloma patients about their condition, treatment options, lifestyle changes, and self-care strategies, empowering them to take an active role in their care.
7. Support for Caregivers
Caregivers can join telehealth appointments, enabling them to stay informed and involved in the patient’s care without disrupting their schedules or traveling.
8. Cost-Effectiveness
Telehealth can reduce the financial burden of transportation, lodging (for those traveling long distances for care), and time off work for both patients and caregivers.
9. Continuity of Care
Telehealth ensures consistent follow-up and care coordination, particularly important for managing a chronic condition like myeloma that requires ongoing attention and monitoring.
10. Emergency Response
In case of sudden symptoms or complications, telehealth provides a quick way to reach healthcare professionals for guidance, potentially avoiding unnecessary emergency room visits.
Myeloma mangement using telehealth-
At the same time, you can communicate with fellow MM survivors virtually- whether that’s fellow MM patients in online groups or with me for evidence-based conventional or non-conventional MM issues. Remember that I am also long-term MM survivor and MM cancer coach.
“Telehealth, the use of technology to exchange data and communicate between patients and health care providers, minimizes treatment burden, facilitates personal care, and provides reassurance to cancer survivors.1
With the survival rates of cancer increasing there has been a push to give patients more control over their health care and foster their transition back into the community. Telehealth is at the core of this evolving method of care. However, telehealth is often complex and the patient experience with this method of health care delivery has not been fully assessed…
In a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, investigators assessed the experience of adult cancer survivors with telehealth interventions. Using qualitative research methods the authors assessed 22 studies published between 2006 and 2016 that characterized the experience of adult cancer survivors aged 18 years or older who participated in telehealth interventions.
The authors uncovered 3 analytical themes, each with 3 descriptive subthemes: the impact of telehealth interventions to disrupt the lives of cancer survivors (considering convenience, independence, and burden); the feeling of personalized care despite physical distance (considering time, space, and the human factor); and the feeling of remote reassurance (considering active connection, passive connection, and slipping through the net)…
From these 3 themes the researchers concluded that telehealth interventions minimize treatment burden and disruption to cancer survivor lives by providing a convenient alternative approach to health care. It also provides a sense of personalized care and offers reassurance. However, the researchers cautioned that, “it is important to consider individual factors when tailoring interventions to ensure engagement promotes benefit rather than burden.”
“Some medical offices have a “sick side” and a “well side” for patients and their caregivers. As much as I appreciate this effort, there must be an even better way. Today there is, with telehealth, also called telemedicine. When patients can’t, or prefer not to, go into a doctor’s office, their preferred method is now online, through videoconferencing, remote monitoring, electronic consults and wireless communications.
Use of telehealth in hospitals has grown rapidly during the last decade. From 2010 to 2017, hospitals implementing a computerized health system increased from 35 percent to 76 percent, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA). For patients with cancer in rural areas and across the globe, telemedicine can bridge the gap between wealthy areas and lower income areas. This is especially important during the current quarantine we are experiencing in many places in the world. The risk of infection is too great, and great strides are being made to keep patients safe.
Home-Based Care Goes Mainstream
“The COVID-19 pandemic is going to push home-based care into the mainstream,” said healthcare tech veteran, Steve Tolle, of HLM Venture Partners, which invests in health and telecom companies to move the field of telehealth forward. He also knows about telehealth first-hand, as a diabetic, who is currently quarantined in Chicago.
“The last thing my doctor wants is for me to have an in-person visit,” he said. They’re using Skype and FaceTime to communicate…
Barriers to Telehealth
One issue that patients will have questions about is coverage. Is your service covered by my insurance or Medicaid? Answers will vary. Currently, 26 states have laws that require private insurers to reimburse healthcare providers for services delivered through telemedicine.
Another thing to be aware of is location. If you are in one state and the doctor you would like to speak with is in another, there may be insurance barriers there, too.
Also, access to broadband Internet may pose a challenge for rural communities that are not up to speed with suburbs and cities…
But the good news is that laws are changing; doctors no longer have to be in a room with a patient in order to prescribe a medication.
When setting up your next appointment, ask if you can meet the doctor over FaceTime or Skype. This can cut down the rate of disease transmission, and right now, help to “flatten the curve.””
myeloma management using telehealth myeloma management using telehealth myeloma management using telehealth
Leave a Comment:
2 comments
Deborah Rogow says
3 weeks ago
Yep. I was diagnosed 2 months before the pandemic arrived. Once the pandemic arrived, I switched to telemed care, since I was on oral therapy. I also switched my IVIG to at-home (paid by Medicare and– thanks to the warm climate in SoCal — I had on my patio, and the IVIG nurse also drew my regular labs. So for several years, the didn’t go into the oncology clinic except on rare occasions. Aside from eliminating covid risk, I felt that the disadvantage of not being in the same room with the doctor was balanced by being able to see each other’s faces, unmasked. Eventually — around the time that covid vaccines became available — I had to switch to daratumubab subQ, so I had to go in once a month. WHen that stopped working, after several aborted tries with other oral meds, I contacted City of Hope (a cancer hospital 2 hours from my home) and made a telemed appt with a myeloma specialist there. I’ve since spent a lot of time there (for a CAR-T, and lately for harvesting stem cells), but our regular monthly follow-up appts are still telemed. I REALLY like telemed appts — they save me anxiety (about covid), as well as time. I even still use telemed most of the time for appts with my local internist!
