Why We Must Be Knowledgeable About Our Own Health

Today, I had two separate and completely different reminders of why we must own our own health status and be willing to take the steps necessary to remain the best version of ourselves. The first was a nurse friend of mine who was more aware of nuances of her own challenges than probably most people that I know and her story almost ten years after the fact. The second involved the family of a young lady who is in the middle of her battle now. In both cases, discussing the situation was emotional and overwhelming for them. Both scenarios had multiple issues and complications that compounded as the stories unfolded. In the first case, the nurse dealt with being hospitalized multiple times. As an RN, she was aware of protocols that on numerous occasions, weren't followed properly. How she lived through the trauma that she endured I realize is nothing short of a miracle as she honestly could have lost that battle multiple times, but what I heard in her story was a will to fight for her life and her child's. I also realized as she shared that even during the issues, because of how aware she was of protocols, knowing her body, and her health history, she could advocate better for herself than most people know how to do. Where most people would have hit defeat and given up the will to push through, she didn't. I feel it also fair to point out that this woman is one of the most proactive and healthy women that I know, actively practices both good nutrition and exercise. In the second case, I heard from multiple family members the challenges, stress, and overwhelm that they are experiencing as their loved one is in the middle of her treatment now for her disease. Like the other scenario, it has been a long drawn out process. There have been multiple specialists and health care facilities involved. It was the overwhelm and not knowing what to do or where to go to figure it all out that too out to me though. It was trying to figure out how to get health care professionals to listen, recognize when something isn't going according to protocol, and how to ensure that the overworked hospital and medical staff could recognize that even though they aren't experts in the medical field, they are experts in her and what was changing with her daily, for better or worse. I know absolutely nothing about this other person's health history before this happened and make no assumptions about it. Both discussions today hit a nerve close to home as they brought me back two years to when I was advocating for my mother's health and knew that there were multiple issues that had been overlooked, multiple failures to see the errors along the way, and I could in that aspect feel their pain. When you know that something just isn't right, but often the healthcare professionals are stretched so thin that they have had to tune out what seems like noise of the family members or patients who aren't educated. Both situations actually shared that there was a known allergen that the patient was exposed to during treatment, as it was part of standard protocol. There were symptoms that were recognized as outside the normal spectrum that were blown off when brought up. The point of this is that when it comes to healthcare, we hear everyday of situations where somebody messes up in system, but the occasions where everything goes according to plan, of course aren't highlighted. In the first case, because the nurse was as knowledgeable as she was, she could advocate more and was able to in a sense prove that she knew what was going on. In the second case, they are still trying to figure out how to stumble through the challenges and it was heartbreaking. I can't help but think that there's a reason why God put me in both places of conversation tonight to hear their stories. The coincidence of this timed with me learning about how to help others advocate for their health and approach it with a prevention mindset isn't a coincidence, but rather more reassurance that I am on the right path. There were lessons to be learned and shared without reveling any of the personal details of either situation. Here are a few take aways from it that are crucial: 1. Taking time for your health might seem like such an inconvenience, but when you don't have it, it doesn't just impact you, but also those that you love. Taking care of yourself and being healthy isn't selfish, it's also showing your loved ones through your actions that you love and care about them too and want to be here for them. Eat right and exercise seems cliche until you wish that you had taken the time to do it. 2. You must be aware of allergies, your history of complications, etc and make sure that those on your HIPAA form are aware, as well as any and all medical documentation. If you have a different doctor for gyn care than your primary care, make sure that both health care professional records have accurate information reflecting that as well. If the hospital system only looks at files from one system, something could be missed. Yes, EMR is supposed to take care of this, but errors can and do happen. As a patient, make sure everything is correctly updated. Go onto the patient portal and double check for accuracy, while you are healthy enough to do so. 3. Pay attention when you go to the doctor and they are reviewing your health history. This is the best time to answer further questions if there is inaccurate information that needs to be updated. 4. When something doesn't seem like it's going right, speak up and keep speaking up until you are heard. If that means changing HCPs, then do it. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say that they regret not changing HCPs sooner. By no means should you just doctor hop and go causing problems for an issue that isn't necessary, but many times you must self advocate to be heard. 5. Take the time to know the ins and outs of your insurance plan. Many people will put off getting an issue addressed because they believe they can't afford to get it taken care of, whether it's financially or with time. Get online and dig into your benefits to understand what it will really cost. Call your insurance plan if you need to and speak to a representative, or call your doctors' office and ask to speak to somebody in insurance. There are answers and sometimes it takes time and work. 6. Speaking of insurance, open enrollment is coming up in the next few months and I know it can be overwhelming, but put time in your planner to commit to digging into your healthcare plan options and truly understanding them. I get that the cheapest plan is what fits in the budget, but when it's time to pay that deductible with the up front costs, those are the times when you will need an FSA or HSA to help lessen the pain or some sort of plan. As somebody who is now self employed and spent the last two years working with doctors' offices to go over explanations of benefits with the person in charge of explaining it to patients, even I was overwhelmed going through my healthcare options and because I spent two weeks picking apart the nuances, I learned that the best option for me turned out to be the one I least expected would be. I'm grateful I put the time in.