Newly diagnosed and learning

Ah, Lillian, sorry to see you here. Don't stress too much about not understanding everything. It's a whole new language and until you get used to it everyone might as well be talking Swahili. Sometimes you have to take a bit of a leap of faith and hope the experts are doing their stuff. A bit like getting the car fixed, find someone you trust and hope for the best. You will start to figure it all out, we are adaptable animals and we learn stuff.

That said, it really pays to get organised. Get a good folder, a month a page diary and start filing everything. Ask for copies of every report. Get a business card from every doctor, specialist etc and put the date you saw them on the back. UR numbers (your patient number) for hospitals are really handy to know. They print out sheets of barcodes with that number on them which get stuck to all your paperwork, blood tests etc. Nick a page of them, they can come in really handy and if you ring a hospital and know that number (different one for each hospital) it makes life easier. Stick them to your phone and any personal items that you take for hospital stays.

Never, ever get admitted to hospital without taking a thermos mug. Ever. And take your own teabags and coffee with you if you are fussy. Learn to wait--which for me is still the hardest lesson. Marg xx