I was asked if I would like to contribute a health tip to an infographic being created. Basically the concept is about how you need to be an advocate for your own health. Sadly, it seems like doctors don’t have time to treat patients as individuals a lot of the time now, we’re just a number in and out of the office. So we need to watch out for ourselves, but we also need to be prepared to help our doctors help us. So the tip that I provided was about organizing your health data.

I know I can do better at this, but one of the things that my mom did after all of her cancer treatments was to create a Google Doc that outlined her diagnoses and treatments and shared it with key family members. This is helpful because when doctors have asked me about my family’s cancer history, I have a brief, yet informative document that I can either print out for my doctor or I can at least rattle off some key facts for them.

I know we’re probably still trying to figure out our Christmas shopping and things like that right now (ugh… it’s causing me an inordinate amount of stress this year) and New Year resolutions may not be on the forefront, but this could be a good one for everyone. Quiz your parents, grandparents, whomever may be applicable in your life and find out their health history. Make your own health history for your children and commit to keeping it updated for the future.