Hello!! Welcome to my first official blog entry. I am now on the BLOG train and I can’t even believe it. However, circumstances and openness to new ways of doing things, especially communicating, has catapulted me into this once unheard of word and world. My general biography is to the side of this entry. However, I feel I should explain the "Aunt Emmy" title as my name is actually Patricia:
I have been called many things throughout my life from Aunt Patsy, to Pat, to Aunt Emmy and many more. However, one thing remains constant. In my family, I am the one everyone comes to in order to seek advice. over the years, those closest to me, call me Aunt Emmy. I want my readers and followers to feel the same sort of affection. Thus, I am heretofore, Aunt Emmy!
I want to start by giving you a little overview of the purpose of The Little Pink Purse of Courage Blog and why I created The Little Pink Purse of Courage. Before, I get into that, I want to be sure and remind you that this blog will be updated every Sunday to coincide with myBlogtalk radio show, Conversations with Aunt Emmy, which can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/auntemmy. This radio show, like this blog, will mainly consist of breast cancer-related and health-related content. Occasionally, we will venture into other areas. So be sure to follow me every Sunday at 4:30 p.m. EST. We always have fun! If you can't listen on Sundays, visit the above site for on-demand episodes!
Now for the crux of my first blog--
Your Relationship With Your Doctor
The message this blog will send is so important that I am leaving my comfort zone of phone calling and sending hand written notes( yes I still do that). Our relationships with our health care providers-especially our treating physicians, is one that is a positive and powerful partnership. In order to achieve this empowered relationship, you have to ask the right questions and have information so that your partnership is grounded in respect and openness, This should lead to the very best healthcare possible. I am not talking about any kind of alternative care or treatments; or that if you have a disease diagnosis you will be cured because you have this partnership with your doctor. What I am saying is that, regardless of the disease, if you and/or your family can ask the right questions and communicate how you wish to be treated by your physician-who is as an equal partner- then you will be empowered and the course of that illness will be quite different than if your relationship with your doctor were less personal.
From the age of 2, and I am much past that now, sickness and ill health plagued my life on a personal level. My illnesses were chronic and affected my schooling, my entertainment and my childhood and young adult life all together. I am referring to severe asthma. One day I started to pay attention- long before the pundits started writing about how to control and manage my asthma. I noticed a dramatic difference in my health to the point where today, I hardly ever take medications for it. When I had children who were both afflicted with asthma, I had to partner with their physicians so it did not hinder their childhood as it did mine. So I took my observations to the doctors, suggested what I thought worked and what did not. Soon we were in agreement and an empowered partnership evolved with the best outcomes for my kids.
Fast forward to 2001 and my sister is diagnosed with breast cancer. Here is a woman who had a routine mammogram every year- but on diagnosis is told she has Stage 3 cancer already infecting many lymph nodes. You can imagine how devastating this was for me. But we learn from all. We can make every experience into a learning experience and it helps the healing process. It is far better than acting defeated from the get-go. Even though I learned to control my illness, when my husband became ill, so often I did not know what questions to ask about his illness. And I am a nurse. Many times, I was in this haze of technical care giving but not informed enough about the disease. The internet was not yet a reality- but then again, when you are really, really ill and are first diagnosed- the mind is often blurred to the point where you do not want to know all the information that is out there. It is too real.
I decided that when my sister went to see the oncologist who would treat her cancer I would send questions that we HAD to have answers to. There, without knowing it, was the genesis of THE LITTLE PINK PURSE OF COURAGE: When Breast Cancer is the Diagnosis and Chemotherapy is the Treatment Option.
I sent her with 41 questions. The first question asked that the doctor specifically state what type of breast cancer was diagnosed. Sounds trite but most women do not know that important piece of information and yet it affects treatment choices, among other decisions that your physician will make and offer you.
So the book has led now to my radio show on www.blogtalkradio.com/auntemmy, which I mentioned above. I am talking to women about breast cancer and other health related topics including Asthma- my chronic disease. For the next 2 months the shows will largely center around breast cancer and THE LITTLE PINK PURSE OF COURAGE. To learn more about me visit www.thelittlepinkpurseofcourage.com, www.thepassionsofpatriciaedwards.com or on Facebook and Twitter. I try to answer all correspondence.
Until the next blog entry for The Little Pink Purse of Courage or Sunday’s radio show Conversations with Aunt Emmy. I wish you health and happiness!
-Aunt Emmy
No comments:
Post a Comment