How to better organize your health stuff

Scanning, planners, GCal, and a whole lot of winging it.

Credit: Aleks Dorohovich on Unsplash

Welcome to Solicited Advice, our weekly column that celebrates the helpfulness in health. Because in a world where strangers at the grocery store love to tell you that a specific brand of magnesium will indeed “cure” what ails you (it probably won’t, so sorry), we’re all about passing on our lived experience in a way that makes your life a little better. Are we experts? Nah, not really. But we’re great listeners who have perfected the art of pillow screaming. Let’s get into it!

I consider myself to be a organized person for the most part, but I’m admittedly overwhelmed with managing all of the appointments, to-dos, and paperwork that comes with having a bunch of health conditions. Any tips?

Kat: Ah, you sound like me… a work in progress! I admittedly have haphazard systems for just about everything when it comes to managing the logistics of my health. But over time, I’ve refined what works for me. I’ve developed a filing cabinet where important documents live, and they’re separated by type of information: imaging discs and radiology reports (I get yearly brain MRIs and other scans so that’s a beefy file for sure), financial statements (usually related to surgeries since I have them so often and there’s a zillion bills to juggle), and any kind of record that holds importance in my patient history (like surgical reports or diagnostic paperwork). I also set aside time about once a year to clean out any piece of paper that seemed really important in the moment, but is likely something I can find in a patient portal.

Otherwise, I live and die by my Google calendar — I put everything in there. Because I spend a lot of time on my computer, it’s a tool I’m constantly revisiting throughout the day and can’t ignore. I put medication reminders, appointments (including the location, phone number, and any kind of prep I have to do beforehand), and pick days to make appointments and pay bills. Another recommendation I’d make is that you might want to download your pharmacy’s app. I started doing that in the past five years or so, and it’s been a fool-proof way to keep a current list of my medications, refill my scripts if they aren’t already on autofill, and see when they’re estimated to be ready for pick up so I don’t have to make yet another phone call.

Jess: I am, admittedly, the least engaged person in this group when it comes to managing my health via appointments and providers. I’ve only had health insurance at brief moments in my life (and even then, it’s rarely been affordable to use it), and western medicine doesn’t really know what to do with me, so I mostly… fly by the seat of my pants. I probably should be doing more, but it overwhelms the hell out of me, so I do what I can and call it good enough.

When I do make appointments, they go straight on my calendar before I leave the office or hang up the phone, or however it is I’m scheduling. At that same time, I add in any notes (things like, “arrive 15 mins early” go in the title while directions, doctor names, etc. go in the event description). I save numbers and don’t delete them — usually in a “Doctor Name | Speciality | City” format. I ask for paperwork to be emailed to me, and I handle it like the rest of my inbox: I triage daily, and aim for inbox zero at least weekly. I hear a lot of folks leave stuff in their inbox and search for it? 🤯 My brain will freeze if there’s that much in front of me (I also close out my browser tabs lol), so my system is delete | file | action, and once actioned, it moves to the “file”, so at any given time, the only items that should be in my inbox are things I need to do. I add any verbal to-dos or instructions that need to be incorporated into my life into my big ass list of daily/weekly/monthly tasks because my brain doesn’t really do routines without an added 20-eleven layers of support. I don’t have a record of any of my files beyond what’s in my inbox or MyChart, but after reading Kat’s response above, maybe I should start. Hmmm.

Skyler: I think I’ve maintained a yearly planner since I was in the third grade, so that’s about 20 years that I’ve been trying to gain some semblance of control in my life through pen and paper. Nowadays I use a mix of digital and analog methods to track appointments, keep up with paperwork, and stay on top of prescriptions. Not long after Kat and I first met, she asked me how much time I spend managing my health care during the average week. I was mystified — not only because no one had ever asked me that before — but because I hadn’t thought about it myself. When I’m actually taking care of myself and staying up on my health care, it’s safe to say I spend at least a part-time job’s worth of time, effort, and energy doing so. (Only I don’t get paid to do so, and in fact have to spend a whole bunch of money instead.)

My combo approach to record keeping still involves my trusty planner, but multiple conditions requires multiple methods. Now I also use Google Calendar, my pharmacy’s app, various patient portals, sticky notes, an accordion folder where I hold the documents I don’t scan and store digitally (and where I keep some rad photographs of my internal organs from an exploratory laparoscopy), and handy dandy external digital storage devices. I also heavily rely on the family shredder for all my post-scanning needs.

I guess the tl;dr is… I use a bit of everything.

Ash: What Kat said, except replace the part about “brain scans” for “thyroid scans.”

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