My cancer treatment planner
I spent a number of hours online searching for a medical planner and could find NOTHING! There was not a breast cancer, cancer, medical, or any other kind of planner that would be used for a long term illness record keeping journal.
If I were to mass produce this and offer it to the general public there are many things I would do differently. This is a “Prototype” and I need to work out the kinks and bugs in it before I even consider putting this up for sale.
I am trying to find my way through the “Rich Mom University” course by Renae Christine. I will have to do another post and title it “Be Careful What You Wish For”. I’m not bashing Renae Christine’s course. It is ONE AWESOME COURSE!! It is a MUST HAVE if you are thinking about growing your Etsy store, an Online Store you already have, or if you are just thinking about selling handmade products anywhere.
My problem is….I have not yet been able to get fully into the course since my wonderful husband, Joe, purchased it for me way back in March when the Rich Mom University program was open for 10 days. It won’t be open again until 2017. Check out her Rich Mom Business FREE training to see a smidgen of what she teachers in her RMU course. You can get there at this link. http://richmombusiness.com/about
My truck driving job kept me away from home. I would listen to her coaching calls on my iPhone as I drove the highways. Did you know there are cellular dead spots in a lot of places? Well, there are. Renae Christine would be answering a question from a fellow RMU participant and my phone would freeze. This dear sweet woman, who has poured her heart and soul into creating a business plan…..a TITAN OF HANDMADE business plan, and her cute face would be frozen in the odd positions for many miles and several hours.
You know what I mean. You have a television that you can pause the program you are watching. The face of the person on television at the moment you paused it. Open mouth, one closed eye, or some combination that makes you look twice at the screen and chuckle. Poor Renae Christine spent many hours frozen in an odd position.
Then I have been waylaid by doctor visits and other things for my breast cancer. I get distracted by the paperwork I have to do for our business. I have way to many excuses for not getting in to the RMU course.
Okay, I tend to get off track. So, the changes I would make to this planner would first be make it with a 3 ring binder. Not everyone is like me and would not appreciate having the spiral binding which prohibits insertion of different things. Or even relocating the guts of the planner into different positions.
I have put in a pocket at the front of the book, inside the front cover, to hold the stuff you get from the doctor’s office each visit. I have used a 13″ x 13″ scrapbook pocket that I cut down to fit in my planner. There is a place for the business cards I seem to be given at each appointment I’ve been at.
Pocket insert to hold business cards
The next section of this scrapbook layout thing was intended for stickers or photos you wanted to put on the layout. Now it will be used for any prescriptions or small pieces of paper I need to keep that I get from the doctor visits.
Short pocket for prescriptions or small papers
The other side of the scrapbook pocket thing has a place to hold papers or embellishments you want to use on your layout. I’m going to use it for something, I’m not quite sure what but I’ll figure it out.
A pocket for other things I need to keep
And the last pocket in this scrapbook thing is for the 12 x 12 paper and other things a person would need to create a layout. I can put 8-1/2 x 11 paper in it. Things I get from the doctor office or notes and questions I have for the doctor so I don’t misplace them.
A full pocket for 8-1/2 x 11 paper
The Tabs definitely need work. I used the tabs from the American Cancer Society folders they so generously gave to me. Plus I had to use the WeRMemory Keepers Envelope Punch Board to create tabs for the things not included in the ACS file folders. Right now they are working for me.
Tabbed sections
I had to go through my bead assortment to put some kind of a stopper on the ends of the spiral binding. To keep them from working out of the holes at the top and bottom. I used E6000 to hold the beads on. We’ll see how long it takes before they fall off 
Stopper bead at top
Stopper bead at bottom
I spent a couple days talking to my computer, hollering at it really, trying to figure out how to make my planner pages. I have a Mac and had to learn how to use the document handling program called Pages. Let’s just say it got quite noisy and abusive here until I got it figured out.
Planner pages inside my journal
My intention is to be an active participant in my cancer treatment and recovery. All of these doctor offices I visit give me forms to fill out on my Medical History. I can’t remember what I put on the last form when I am confronted with a new form. I have created a form that will, hopefully help me keep my dates and information straight.
I want to track my progress at each visit. Weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse rates. I generally don’t ask my Family Doctor for that info when I go visit him. I will be keeping track of that this time. I have created a form for that.
Medicines. Good grief! Every doctor visit I have been accompanying Joe to his various doctors, the nurse ALWAYS asks about his medications. Some people in the waiting room have ziplock bags with their bottles of medicines. I have created a form for all the medications I will be taking or have put in me if I go through chemo.
Lab results. Blood work tests. I don’t even know what my Blood Type is. Now I will know. I will be able to keep track of these results each time the test is done and have a place to record them.
Appointments with the various doctors and technicians that I will need to see, or have already seen. The dates and times of the appointments, which doctor or technician, which facility I have to visit. This information will be transferred to my monthly calendar and my weekly calendar.
Dates of mammograms, biopsies, chemo, radiation, or hormone treatments.
I’ve tried to think of everything I would need to have in my treatment journal. So we will see if this is an awesome tool or a total flop.
Oh, and in case you are wondering what the cover material of my book covers are. Wallpaper. I have a big roll of the stuff I got from my local big box hardware store for about $10. I think it is quite pretty 😀 It is very tactile. Bumpy, smooth, visual texture, and so many things that keep this crazy woman that likes shiny things happy.
And, the plastic covers on the outside of my medical journal. I have one on the front and one on the back. I have cut down some plastic dividers intended to separate scrapbook paper in a holder. Organized people like to keep their papers sorted by manufacturer and not by color. These tabbed dividers work with sorting by color as well. I have a ton of them in the dark recesses of a cupboard. Now they will keep the rain, snow, sweat, and coffee spills from marring my beautiful covers.
Okay, that’s it for today. I hope you all are enjoying your summer weekend. Those of you in other far flung areas across the globe that are in the midst of winter, I hope you are enjoying nice weather and not freezing your hoo-hoo’s off.
Leslie
Message In A Fold 