Post No. 4 for The Survivor Project

Cindy is here today to share her fourth installment of The Survival Project!

Hello to everyone..Its Cindy back with my survival guide for chronic illness and cancer

My guide was really put to the test twice this week and thank goodness it worked perfectly. I had a bit of surgery and now in an ongoing dental process for the next week.. Next Tuesday, I will also follow up to know if my cancer is still stable.

I have tweaked my guide and am using the same set up with more sections in my personal Filofax..thank you to this project for making me get at least one thing accomplished while fighting life..to be prepared is a wonderful feeling.  I would still have it in bits and pieces all over if not for my Filofax project.

My pocket is set up as follows..monthly calendar with all appointments and tests written in.

First section  Dr appointment sheets and symptom checker.  With cyclical Cushings your temperature, moods, body changes, heart palpitations….all these symptoms happen daily and often..with my designed sheets I am able to write it down and not try to remember..remembering was stressing me..I have so many daily fluctuations, I was so inaccurate reporting this to my doctor.

Here are pictures of the sheets designed by me. Formatted by Piaric  and my chino binder set up.  I also use the cards shown as daily remembrances of my beatitudes and trusting in God.  Any positive affirmation you can say and not give up hope, that tomorrow will be better helps with coping.

Second section are finance sheets..being without insurance is such an extra test.,i think truly a sick person should not have this to worry about.

Next is family section… Husband, Steve, myself, my oldest Patrick(24) and my youngest Thomas each have a family sheet..illness, allergies, shots, tests and medication currently taking all go on the designated color of paper..no hard thing to remember as this will not change..

Blue: Steve
Pink: Cindy
Green: Patrick
Yellow: Thomas

Last but most important is my section…

Bucket list, books to read, dreams I had, things to do with priority colors, recipes…the list goes on..in this section I diary my day….purple is my color..its purple paper or purple ink.. Its a fun color too that reminds me to smile..and have hope!

I am happy right now with this set up..it was precise with records for admitting me with my history of operations, my kidney cancer and Cushings disease.

I know this may not be elaborate enough for some but it works for me..i tried to remember everything and that was not working..its lovely to have my soft chino Filofax as my friend, my guide to my doctor, and everything straight from each doctor..

Hope I have given you some simple ideas on setting up your own survival guide..mine is simple to chart with only 5 colors and how to identify each person..my doctors were impressed and I hope you will be too…til next time..take care and be well..thank you for reading.