The answer to the problem was obvious!

Hiding in the dark recesses of my 'collection' was a Filofax that could help solve a growing problem of mine...

The Collection.... or most of it!

Every time I open the doors I hear many small voices calling out 'Use me Mr Steve... I want you to put some pages in me please' !!!! Not really....

However, let's go back to the beginning. 

Being of a certain age (that's long-hand for Old.... you're not kidding anyone Steve)  I seem to attend more medical appointments and consultations than ever before in the previous 60+ years of my life. 

You don't need to know the details.... it's ok to open your eyes there will be no squeamish details. 

All of these appointments and consultations produce a mountain of paperwork... yes I know the results, reports, documents etc are available on-line. I've learnt (the hard way) that when you are with the consultant or our own doctor, you only have limited time and flipping from one screen to another and then passing your phone/tablet to them to try and read an A4 size paper report on a screen is an experience I don't want to repeat. 

Therefore the printed page is the easiest solution.... No batteries or mobile coverage required... another bonus. 

For my annual check ups I need to be able to access multiple reports, letters, documents etc. Understanding the contents is another issue, but that's well above my pay grade! 

The answer was obvious.... sort them in to different categories and index them and catalogue them into these different categories with some simple dividers. 

Now at first I had a simple plastic A4 four ring binder... but then I thought I have a better idea... time to use my A4 Filofax... the consultant will be impressed when I open that up on his desk and pass him each document/report as he asks for them. 

It worked, I got through the consultation without getting stressed out looking for documents in a stack of plastic slip folders. 

The A4 Filofax uses the same ring spacing a normal A4 binder. It's a bit of a monster to use on a daily basis, not too bad when closed, but it takes up a lot of desk space when open. In my application, it is perfect. I am able to keep all of my medical reports/documents etc all in one place. 

Stay safe and stay healthy. 

 

Know Your Numbers

When did you last have your blood pressure checked? Do you 'know your numbers'? Having your blood pressure checked is quite a simple thing to do on a regular basis. 

If you don't have your own monitor to do the check your local pharmacy will have one or you can buy one, they aren't too expensive. 

High or low blood pressure gives rise to lots of other medical conditions. I'm no medical expert, but there are plenty of on-line help pages that explain the conditions and how your blood pressure can be controlled. 

However, this isn't by any stretch of the imagination an on-line medical blog! If you are doing regular blood pressure checks on the instruction of your doctor, then this insert will not doubt help you record the numbers, there a lot of them! 

Doctors vary, but mine asked me to do three measurements spaced by a few minutes twice a day, so three in the morning and three in the evening. 

I have created this insert in A5 size and Personal size, it might scale ok to A6 size as well depending on how neat your hand writing is. 

• Blood Pressure Record - A5 size Word and PDF
• Blood Pressure Record - Personal size Word

Planning for a medical emergency with your organiser.

Recently I had an unexpected stay in a nearby hospital, not unpleasant by any means, but just unexpected. In fact it was only my third ever stay in a hospital, and the longest as far as I'm aware. My previous hospital stay was back when I was only seventeen! Yes, decades ago.

Add in the fact that this was a French hospital and because of COVID-19 I was on my own, it tested my French language skills quite a bit!.

I quickly realised that without my smart phone to hand, I was lacking certain key information, I eventually did get my phone and my bag etc back again several hours later and I started making notes of the information I couldn't remember when asked by the Doctors and information that would have been useful to have with me in future, so I wouldn't have to attempt to commit it to memory.

So I would assume that I would have to keep this information in the form of a card or a page in my organiser or similar. Depending on how much information you need will decide on what size card/page you use.

Relaxing in the hospital bed all wired up to the heart monitor I came up with the following list:

• My name, date of birth - basically so if it was found they would know who the information on the card/page referred to.
• Partners name and mobile phone number - No matter how hard I tried I could not remember Alison's phone number!
• Current Medication - If you are on regular medication this will help the Doctors, fortunately I had my tablets with me, but I couldn't remember their exact name!
• Brief medical history - I could remember some information, but not what it was called in English let alone in French... I eventually did remember and the Doctor did a quick Google search on his phone! 
• Doctors name and contact details - In case the people treating you need to contact them for more details on recent history. 
• Anything else? - this card/page should be considered to be a live document so it should be reviewed and updated from time to time. 

The card if you can make it say business card/credit card size printed on both sides has the advantage that you could easily carry it in your pocket/wallet all the time. You could also have a page in your organiser holding similar information in more detail.

I've created a simple document for you to download and edit then print out which ever page you want. Cut the page to size and punch it etc. They are all on A4 size but it should work if you resize the page to Letter size.

Download the file here. Card.docx

You can edit the headings to suit yourself.

I hope you never need to use the card/page! Take care and stay healthy.