Getting Organized

Vital to helping you understand your condition and manage your care is keeping track of important phone numbers, treatment history, side effects, and laboratory results, such as your complete blood count (CBC). Tools to help organize information will assist you in being an active participant in your cancer care. Keep them handy for use at home and bring them along to your doctor visits and other medical appointments.

Important Contacts

Store contact information for your doctor, caregivers, nutritionist, and other members of your health care team as well as the people who are supporting you in other ways during your chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Health and Treatment History

To get the most from your treatment regimen, you and your health care team must work together to determine the best medication, dose, and schedule for your specific condition. You may be taking multiple medications, and when combined with one or more other drugs, any medication can produce additional effects beyond those intended.

Keeping accurate records of your medications as well as your chemotherapy regimen will give you a sense of control and direction. It will enable your health care team to track potential medication interactions and possible side effects related to your regimen.

Calendar

Keeping a daily, weekly, and monthly calendar will help you in organizing test dates and times, treatment schedules, physician appointments and follow-up appointments.

Progress Chart

It is very important to document your side effects, including the date, time and frequency, and whether they are minor or severe. You should also monitor your blood count changes so you can receive treatment on schedule.

Insurance

Medical insurance and bill management can be frustrating for you and your caregivers. RMOC provides a patient services representative and nurse case manager to assist you with such issues. You can keep track of and record questions and results of inquiries to assist you with these complicated issues.

Questions to Ask

Your health care team is your best source of information. To make sure you get the answers you deserve about your disease, your treatment, possible risks, and the best protection, it's important to find out as much as you can by reading, learning, and asking. When you have a question, write it down and save it for the next time you talk to your doctor or health care team.