Need to journal info, where do your recommend?
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive June 2006:
Need to journal info, where do your recommend?
I am not a person who likes to write, but I am on the computer often. So I am looking around for a place to jot down a record of how I am healing (or not healing) from my back injury. I looked at Yahoo and Office Manager, but couldn't see an easy method where text appears w/in calendar date for easy posting and adding info as the day goes on.
I do not want this to be public info for anyone to read.
Thanks for any help.
With our wreck, I just did a word document. I just typed the day in and wrote notes that I needed. When I needed it I could print it, or fax it out.
I would just do a word document, and use the table function. That way you can have the date in the first column and put your comments in the second.
And, by the way, keeping a journal is a very good idea. Be sure to note doctor visits in it, medications, and how frequently you take them. This becomes evidence to show your damages if you wind up suing. Also note when you try to do things you used to be able to do and how you can't do them, social events you turn down because of pain/difficulty, and anything else.
Your dh should also keep a journal. If you wind up suing, there is something called "consortium", which is the damages a spouse suffers because the injured spouse cannot provide the companionship, company, joint participation in events, etc., etc. (and yes, this includes your sex life).
And, you can password Word documents. If you go into Tools, there should be something titled either Protect Document or Security, where you can enter a password. Or, just save it in a folder that you put in a file where you don't usually save documents.
Dana, when Jen was in those 2 accidents a few years ago, and we had to retain an attorney to get compensation/reimbursement for her injuries for one, I did just what Kaye and Ginny suggested - use Word. And as Ginny suggested, use the *table* function, have a column for date, one for time, and one for comments.
I documented each and every phone call related to Jen's accident, her medical appointments, etc. Make sure you get the name of EVERY person you speak with that has anything to do with this, then journal it with the time and date. Back it up on a disk too, just in case you have computer problems, or print it out, so at worst, you can retype it. All of this may be come important, so details details details! Names, dates, times, subjects discussed......
If I were you, I'd just create a folder on your hard drive for the accident, and within that folder, have one for medical appointments which would cover your treatment and progress and medical/Rx bills, and one for any and all conversations/correspondence with insurance companies, and another for attorneys, if you have one.
Get one of those expanding files with the elastic, they come in sets of two, get the legal size, 5.5" capacity. Keep everything you receive in the mail or otherwise in writing in there, plus any prescription receipts, medical bills, or anything you print out from your journaling.
You cannot be too thorough in this case. The more documentation you have, the better. Ask your doctor for a copy of your medical record when you are at the end of treatment. You may have to pay a few dollars for it, but you will have everything there.
Again, names, dates, times.......document everything.
LOL Ginny! I began typing my post after your first post, and between stopping to get dinner for DH and finishing, you said some of what I had typed! 
Yes, definitely, Karen is right. Ask your doctor for a copy of your record. If you and your lawyer decide you have to sue, you will have to get your medical records anyhow, and if your lawyer gets them, the cost will be deducted from any settlement monies. But, here's the interesting thing. The federal HIPAA laws regulate what you can be charged for a copy of your medical records, but not what your lawyer has to pay. In some states (Florida, for example) lawyers are charged as much as $1 a page for copies of medical records - the patient, if s/he gets them directly, pays a whole lot less.
I've not been keeping a journal to date so I have from May 24 to current. Do you think I will still be okay on this? I was just hoping it would stop hurting and I wouldn't have to worry about it.
I'm surprised often at the pain and how it comes and goes or effects things that I didn't expect it to make a difference.
Lots of great advice. I would have never used details, LOL. I was just going to do a general felt good or not good type of thing and sometimes what I was doing that caused the pain.
ROFLOL about DH and his losses. Just today he said "hey, I can go hire a wh*** and we can add that to the suit...and of course the trip to Nevada where it is legal" He was joking of course, and I also thought it was funny since I know he would never do that and I knew that he was not a happy camper about my pains I am experience and how it effects him. I find it funny that there really is something to compensate for him. At least they realize it's not just me suffering.
I've already signed something that gives the attorney the rights to records. Does that mean I will be unable to get the copies for myself and hand them to him?
Dana, to answer your last question first, no, that just means you have given your attorney permission. Next time you talk to him, ask him if it would be less expensive for you to get them, and see what he says.
As for the journal, the more detail, the better, including how it makes you feel emotionally. Spine pain, whether upper or lower, is really the pits. Sadly, so much of what you do is controlled by or affects the nervous system around your spine, which is why when you move anything the wrong way, it hurts. I found that out when I had a ruptured lumbo-sacral (lower back) disk.
If it is an issue for you too, do talk to your doctor about hubby's issues and see if the doc has any suggestions (including a tranquilizer or short term heavier pain med dose) that might help. It's bad enough that you are probably having to ask hubby to do or help you with doing things you used to be able to manage without blinking, without having problems with something so basic to a marriage. Doctors tend to forget about things like that while they are treating what they think of as "more serious" issues unless they are reminded.
|
Members
