Cancer and COVID-19: A Guide

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Cancer and COVID-19: A Guide

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Claire Thevenot.
Find Claire’s advocacy profile here: Clarity Patient Advocates

“COVID cancer sucks,” my client said. 

She discovered a cancerous lump in her breast a couple of weeks ago and has had to go through the many initial appointments amid the chaos, isolation, and uncertainty of COVID-19. As if a cancer diagnosis isn’t daunting enough, dealing with cancer in a pandemic setting is especially frightening and challenging. If you’ve received ...

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27
MAY
0

diagnosis and misdiagnosis, doctor communication, health care and cost management, medical decision making, working with advocates and care managers

“Invisible Patients” and the COVID Pandemic

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“Invisible Patients” and the COVID Pandemic

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Karen Leitson.
Find Karen’s advocacy profile here: Personalized Healthcare Advocate

Do you or does someone in your family have an unattended medical condition or illness that might be taking a back seat to the coronavirus public health crisis?

There is never a “good time” to be sick or to have an ill family member, loved one or friend. But now, during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic, is a particularly difficult ...

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19
MAY
0

diagnosis and misdiagnosis, doctor communication, hospital care, patient communication, patient safety, working with advocates and care managers

Taking Control in the Midst of a Pandemic

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Taking Control in the Midst of a Pandemic

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Barbara O’Halloran.
Find Barbara’s advocacy profile here: ABC for Your Health, LLC

When life is turned inside out and upside down…

COVID19 has impacted every aspect of our lives! It has wreaked havoc and created a great deal of uncertainty for everyone; from kids who are out of school, to parents working from home, to adult children unable to visit with their parents, to the elderly population who are virtually ...

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11
MAY
0

doctor communication, family caregiving, health care and cost management, patient communication, working with advocates and care managers

Prepare for the Hospital – A Checklist for Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Prepare for the Hospital – A Checklist for Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Kim McIlnay. 
Find Kim’s advocacy profile here: Together Patient Advocates, LLC

Under the best of circumstances, a hospital stay is stressful and uncomfortable. New challenges with the current COVID pandemic make this a time fraught with even more worry, uncertainty and isolation. But there are still many things you can do to prepare.

I’m hopeful that these brief tips can help you prepare now for an improved hospitalization ...

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21
APR
0

doctor communication, eldercare, family caregiving, health care and cost management, hospital care, medical decision making, patient communication, patient safety

Danger Lurks at Big Box and Chain Pharmacies

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Danger Lurks at Big Box and Chain Pharmacies

This article popped up in a dozen places over the past week or so. The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Axios, even QVC!

How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk

Reading it will curl your toenails and raise the hair on the back of your neck! You’ll wonder how you have survived your Walgreens or CVS drug prescriptions.

But while I applaud the honesty and real-life approach to the exposé, I am as ...

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8
FEB
1

doctor communication, drugs - cost and safety, follow the money, health care and cost management, patient safety

Cyberchondria – Are we Putting Too Much Faith in Dr. Google?

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Cyberchondria – Are we Putting Too Much Faith in Dr. Google?

You may be reading this post because you are curious about that term – “cyberchondria.” 

It’s not hard to figure out what it means. It means hypochondriac-ism as a result of doing online searches. More precisely, the act of diagnosing ourselves by using the web, then upsetting ourselves through our findings. It’s when we decide a headache is really brain cancer, or low blood sugar is translated as Parkinsons, or forgetfulness becomes Alzheimers.

The word “cyberchondria” has been around for 20 years ...

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20
NOV
1

diagnosis and misdiagnosis, doctor communication, medical decision making, patient communication

When Your Provider Says, “It’s All in Your Head”

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When Your Provider Says, “It’s All in Your Head”

In a recent conversation with Annette, a young woman who has MS (multiple sclerosis), she described to me the first time she went for a drug infusion which had been prescribed by her neurologist.

She arrived for the session using her walker, barely able to keep her balance. Exhausted, she was finally able to get comfortable in the infusion chair. As the nurse began setting up the needle and catheter injection system into her vein, she looked at Annette and asked ...

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17
OCT
0

diagnosis and misdiagnosis, doctor communication, health care and cost management, medical decision making, working with advocates and care managers

Preventing a Deadly Outcome from a Visit to the Doctor

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Preventing a Deadly Outcome from a Visit to the Doctor

Today I’m sharing an experience with you in hopes of preventing something we do but don’t think about; something which can be dangerous.

At a recent doctor appointment, I found two people in the waiting room just hacking away, coughing up a storm, and very likely infecting others. They were together, and there for only a minute before the nurse took them back to the exam room, removing them from proximity to the rest of us who were waiting. I went ...

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23
SEP
1

doctor communication, eldercare, family caregiving, patient communication, patient safety

The Surgical Assembly Line

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The Surgical Assembly Line

When I think of an assembly line, two images pop into my head:

  • The I Love Lucy Chocolate Factory episode where Lucy and Ethel are trying to wrap chocolates (and eat them too!) and can’t possibly keep up.
  • My high school history class, when we learned about Henry Ford’s invention of the concept of an assembly line, where hundreds of cars were being assembled in one day. It revolutionized manufacturing, helping companies produce much more than ever before.

I thought of both when ...

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19
AUG
0

doctor communication, follow the money, hospital care, medical decision making, patient communication, patient safety, working with advocates and care managers

Treat Your Human Body Like You Treat Your Car

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Treat Your Human Body Like You Treat Your Car

My friend Janet has a bad wound on her leg. It has been there for two months, and just looks worse and worse. Now it looks so bad she doesn’t even want to leave the house.

“What does your doctor say about it?” I asked her.

“I’ve been back to him five times!”, she responded. “He keeps giving me antibiotics, but it doesn’t seem to get any better.”

“Five times???” I asked her, incredulously.

It was time for “the talk” with Janet.

… the talk ...

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21
JUL
1

diagnosis and misdiagnosis, doctor communication, medical decision making, working with advocates and care managers

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