Question lists by condition.

Generic appointment-prep advice helps. Condition-specific question lists help more, because the right things to ask a cardiologist are different from the right things to ask a neurologist treating dementia. These are the questions caregivers in similar situations have found most useful.

Inside, condition-specific lists for:

• Dementia and Alzheimer's (early, middle, and late stage)
• Post-stroke recovery
• Cancer treatment (initial diagnosis through follow-up care)
• Parkinson's disease
• Heart failure
• End-stage renal disease / dialysis
• General appointments for an elderly parent

Dementia / Alzheimer's appointments

Early stage:

• How will we know when the diagnosis has progressed to the next stage?
• What medications, if any, slow progression, and what are realistic expectations?
• When should we start thinking about driving, financial decisions, advance directives?
• What support is available for me as the caregiver?
• Should we consider a clinical trial?

Middle stage:

• How do we manage agitation, sundowning, or anxiety?
• Are there environmental changes at home that would help?
• When is in-home help or adult day care worth considering?
• What signs would mean it's time to consider memory care?
• How do I handle moments when they don't recognize me?

Late stage:

• What's the role of palliative care vs. hospice at this stage?
• How do we handle eating and swallowing changes?
• What should I be preparing for in the next 3–6 months?
• When do we shift focus from treatment to comfort?

Post-stroke recovery

• What's the realistic expected trajectory for the next 3, 6, and 12 months?
• What therapy is recommended, how often, and for how long?
• What signs of a second stroke should I watch for?
• How do we manage the emotional changes, depression, frustration, personality shifts?
• When is it safe for them to be alone? To drive again? To return to work?
• What home modifications would help most?

Cancer (initial diagnosis appointment)

• What stage and what does that mean for treatment options?
• What are all the treatment options, and what would you recommend, knowing them as a person?
• What are the goals of treatment, cure, control, comfort?
• What are the realistic side effects we should prepare for?
• How will treatment affect daily life, work, energy?
• Should we consider a second opinion? Where would you suggest?
• Are there clinical trials we should explore?
• What's the role of palliative care alongside treatment?

Cancer (follow-up appointments)

• How is treatment going against the goals we set?
• What signs would indicate it's not working?
• What new symptoms warrant calling you vs. waiting?
• Are the side effects within expected range?
• When do we reassess the plan?

Parkinson's disease

• What medication changes might help with current symptoms?
• How do we time medications around meals and activities?
• What "on/off" patterns should we report?
• When should we consider deep brain stimulation or other procedures?
• How do we handle freezing, falls, and balance issues?
• What non-motor symptoms, sleep, mood, cognition, should we discuss?

Heart failure

• What weight gain in what time frame should make me call you?
• How do we manage fluid intake and salt restrictions practically?
• What activity level is safe, and what's too much?
• When is a hospitalization avoidable with a phone call, and what number do I call?
• What's the role of palliative care alongside cardiac treatment?
• What would you recommend if symptoms worsen, more medication, devices, or different goals of care?

End-stage renal disease / dialysis

• How do we manage between-dialysis days, diet, fluids, activity?
• What symptoms warrant calling the dialysis unit vs. waiting?
• What's the access situation, fistula, catheter, and what should I watch for?
• How do we plan around the dialysis schedule for important events or travel?
• Is conservative (non-dialysis) management an option to discuss?

General "checkup" appointment for an elderly parent

• Are all current medications still necessary? Any to stop or reduce?
• Are there age-appropriate screenings we should be doing, or stopping?
• What vaccines should be current (flu, pneumonia, shingles, COVID)?
• Are there any new symptoms, even subtle, I should worry about?
• What's the plan for the next visit, and what would trigger an earlier one?
• Is there a benefit from involving palliative or geriatric care?