[2020-09-26] Health-related apps
At 6:15 this morning, I received an email notifying me that I had a new message in MyChart. The Ottawa Hospital uses MyChart to provide medical information to patients who sign up for the service, including notifications of upcoming appointments. So I checked the MyChart app on my phone and saw that my first chemotherapy treatment will be on Thursday, October 1. I was comforted by that notice, as I'm looking forward to moving to the next stage in my healing process.
MyChart is a great system, and I particularly like the mobile app. I receive test results as soon as they're available. That was helpful when I was at The Ottawa Hospital emergency on August 22 and had a chest X-ray at 1:00 in the morning. Long before the ER doctor came to see me, I could see the results on my phone and knew that my results were normal.
In addition to providing information to me—messages, test results, upcoming appointments—the app enables me to feed information into the system. I can complete questionnaires through the app before I attend appointments, saving me from having to fill out paperwork in the waiting room. I'm able to update information about what medication I'm taking. The To Do section lists all my upcoming appointments—in my case, chemotherapy treatments on October 1, October 22 and November 13.
I've always loved technology and see it as a great way of staying on top of things I need to do. Technology is especially helpful now that I'm dealing with cancer and have multiple medications to take, appointments to attend and test results to review.
Another app that I downloaded recently is called MyTherapy. When I first got home after surgery, I was struggling to organize the timing of my various drugs using Google Calendar. My niece said, "There are apps for this." I'm not sure that I would have thought of that. MyTherapy is very user-friendly. It was a cinch to add all the medications I needed to take and to set reminders for each one. When the time comes to take my meds, the app plays a pleasant chime and will do so every 5 minutes until I confirm that I've taken the medication. If I'm not able to take the medication right away, I can snooze the notice. And I can skip a certain medication, which has been helpful as I've been weaning myself off Advil. MyTherapy also presents my progress in a chart, indicating how many times I've taken the medication in the last 7 days.
This morning, I downloaded a third health app: Kegel Trainer. It provides a timer that I can follow when doing Kegel exercises, which are designed to strengthen pelvic floor muscles. I haven't used the app enough to know whether it's the right one for me, but I find it better to use an app than to do Kegels on my own, counting the seconds in my head.
Of course, one of the best health-related apps is Fitbit or other comparable tracker. Fitbit tracks my steps, floors, kilometres, calories, sleep quality, and resting heart rate. Fitbit also provides a weekly email comparing my stats week over week and showing my standing compared to others I'm connected with, namely my son and my husband. It has always been a great motivator.
I recommend these apps and would welcome other suggestions for apps that you use to help you manage your health.
