To all who have read and commented on my blog:
Read moreComplaining in Ways that Optimize Your Treatment
Reporting symptoms is not an easy task. Emotions can keep us from providing an accurate picture of what’s going on and/or how we feel about it. That’s a problem when it leads our physicians away from needed evaluations and treatments or, worse, to believe you want to stop treatment when you really don’t.
Read moreHealthy Survivorship While Also Caring for a Loved One
My most recent diagnosis opened my eyes to the need for resources offering guidance and support for patients who are also caregivers. Shockingly, my Googling various combinations of search words yielded only one hit! A blog post. That prompted me to explore the topic and then write a piece for healthcare professionals that I excerpted and edited for brevity for this post.
Read moreCalling All Family Caregivers
Have you heard? A national roadmap is under construction to provide help to family caregivers. Hallelujah! Speaking as one of America’s 53 million people providing unpaid assistance caring for a loved one, this news is big. I’m posting about it now because the public has until November 30th to offer comments before implementation.
Read moreWhy I Volunteer to Do Something I Hate Doing
My stomach feels queasy as I do something I hate doing. I’m asking for money.
No, not for me!
Read morePrepare for Your Care
Here’s a fantastic free program to prepare for your care.
Read moreConfident Healthy Survivors
Patients need confidence while making difficult decisions and pursuing challenging treatments. A marvelous quick read from Make It (MSNBC) may help.
Read moreSouth Eight--A Novel
I rarely read fiction but made an exception for South Eight. The marketer’s promise of weaving thorny issues of modern medicine into a mystery with a romance piqued my interest.
Read moreDon't Should on Yourself About a Feeling
My prior post introduced “should-ing” on yourself and discussed how doing so can help when it comes to taking action. The same should-ing on yourself can cause trouible when it comes to feelings.
Read moreDon't Should on Yourself
I started to say, “I should….,” when my friend interrupted. Don’t should on yourself! Let’s explore the risks and benefits for patients of this dictum.
Read moreParenting Teens While "Doing" Cancer
The greatest gift we can give our children is not protection from the world, but the confidence and tools to cope and grow with all that life has to offer. My successes and failures while helping my teens through my recurrent cancer convinced me that the key task is
Read moreA Healthy Approach to Devastating Results on Your Patient Portal
Patient portals can create serious problems when the results are not normal (see prior post). Patients may freak out and endure days or weeks of fear…and maybe even despair…before they sit down with their doctors and learn the news is not near as bad as they’d thought. For other patients, the news is as awful as they thought…and they lived with the news for too long before having an opportunity to discuss options with their doctors.
A Healthy Approach to worrisome online test results includes:
Read moreA Healthy Survivor's Approach to ONLINE Test Results
Even before some patients get home from a diagnostic test (blood test; imaging study; biopsy), they access their patient portal on their smart phone and periodically refresh the “test results” page until the results are in. Might that be you? I’m guilty as charged. Over the next few posts, I’ll share some tips that help me use the patient portal in ways that promote Healthy Survivorship.
Read moreTest Results via Patient Portals: Good or Bad?
Since the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act (April 2021), most test results are posted on patient portals as soon as they are done. Great, eh? No more nail-biting days or weeks of waiting and worrying until a doctor visit.
Sadly, the change replaced one set of problems with another. The risks of seeing test results before talking with your physicians include…
Read moreThe Art of Losing
I’m a terrible loser. My latest mission? Learning the art of losing. Here, I’ll share my efforts to deal with a relatively insignificant loss.
Read moreCreating Your Best Mindset
A computer glitch deleted this post. I will rewrite and respost in the next week or so. Thanks for your patience. With hope, Wendy
When your Inner-circle peeps ask, "How are you?"
Rules of engagement are different for people in your inner circle. If you are unwell, here’s my personal take on answering, “How are you?” Your needs are the top priority but not the only priority. Maintaining healthy relationships with close family and friends is important and requires an ongoing investment of time and meaningful communication.
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