Save your sanity, time & money!

Need solutions for the medication, medical appliances and/or medical travel that you can't afford? READ EMPOWER Yourself.

A Health Information Management professional, I survived a life-threatening emergency with information that only a person of my professional experience would know. And I’m sharing it!

Friday, August 31, 2012

Celebrate the Anniversary of Coping with Medical Crises and Challenges!

B'SD

13 Elul 5772


America's Labor Day Weekend is 
the anniversary of the
first edition for


It used to have a coverful of colorful arms 
reaching for each other in a symbol
of hope, help and increased happiness:



Readers around the world have benefited from the information inside (updated in the newer editions). They're saving money, time and their sanity with the helpful content.

The E-book and print edition of EMPOWER Yourself are filled with soothing content, can-do exercises and tips for organizing a hectic medical or disability life. 

There's even an entire Global Resources section to clue you in to charitable organizations willing to pay part or all of your specific medical bills or your loved one's.

Look who's liked the book all this time when you click on Sneak Peek!



Make your long weekend a healthier one, inside and out. Buy the E-book or print edition today for a brighter, more functional look at your medical or disability future: Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge

Buy it today and enjoy your reading time!

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Thursday, August 30, 2012

GOOD RECALL Notice: Yocheved Golani's EMPOWER Yourself Book!

B'SD

12 Elul, 5772

This recall notice comes to you with warm smiles and heartfelt messages.


As promised. the Kossovers have reflected on 
passages from 


and prepared a blogpost for you. 

Here's how the book is helping them to cope with Mrs. Kossover's breast cancer:



בס''ד
י''ג באלול, התשע''ב
30 August, 2012

Copyright © R. Kossover, 2012


This "Note" will expand with time.  As we deal with this, I'll add more entries.  G-d willing, my wife will live a long life, and I can slowly forget about adding things to this Cancer Jurnal.  But right now, I need to write.  Just a brief note to clarify things for those of you reading OUTSIDE of Israel. A shekel is worth about 25 cents American.  But Israeli wages are far lower than American wages - often a third of the amount. So a 6 shekel bus fare in Jerusalem is not merely $1.50.  It is 6 shekels - which is a quarter to a fifth of what most folks make an hour here.

This all started when Adina got a letter from her health provider reminding her that she needed to get a mammogram.    She made an appointment, and went on 31 July.  It wasn't fun for her.  Getting one's breasts smooshed in an exam is generally not fun, I guess.  But she figured on getting the results she had alway gotten - normal - and she forgot about the whole thing.  Then she got a call from the health provider telling her she needed a biopsy - something looked suspicious in the biopsy, what they referred to as "calcification".  I translated that call for my wife and we set up an appointment for 8 August, 2012.  For this I went with Adina.  After all, it was surgery of a sort.  My place is with her.

On 16 August, we got a call from the family doctor telling us that Adina had cancer.  That was a Thursday, if I remember right.  We managed to get an appointment for her the following Sunday with a surgeon.  While he wa a nice guy, he didn't do breast surgeries anymore, and HE made an appointment for us with Dr. Oded Olsha, who had been recommended to us as an expert in the field, operating out of Sha'are Tzedeq Hospital Breast Care Institute in Jerusalem.  That appointment was a Wednesday, on 22 August.  At this point I have to mention that on the 20th, Sunday, we ran into Yocheved Golani, whom we knew from the Beit Canada Absorption Center when she would come to our "apartment" and plug in her computer to our wall and use our phone to check her e-mails.  In trhe decade we've both been here, Yocheved has established herself as a health coach, and gave Adina a copy of her book, Its My Crisis and I'll Cry If I Need To, which is a workbook to help someone cope with a crisis.  It has already helped Adina. 

Wednesday the 22nd was a very busy day.  First, we went to a clinic early in the morning so that Adina could have blood work done.  Then we had some breakfast, and took the light rail to Sha'are Tzedeq to meet with Dr. Olsha at about noon.  At that appointment he described in detail the problem Adina faces.  She has a tumor about 1.3 centimeters long (a half inch) which looks like an oval and which infiltrates the ducts.  From what he was able to determine, it was in its very beginning stages, called 1A, and the lymph nodes were, according the biopsy, clear.  But treatment for the tumor is a whole process - not just a chop chop job where the junk yards gets a piece of scrap.  A nurse was designated to coordinate Adina's care, which would NOT end with the surgery.  In addition, we met with the person who would actually schedule the surgery.  After spending some time at the hospital, we went to the health provider to pay for procedures that were to come the following Monday at Sha'are Tzedeq, a "pre-op" meeting to kind of vet the whole process and have additional tests.  Afterwards we slowly wended our way towards  the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem, where Adina met with an oncologist.   

The oncologist detailed the "day after" of the treatment process.  About three weeks after the operation, called a resection, Adina was supposed to begin radiation therapy.  Essentially the area around where the tumor had been would be flooded with X-rays for a five minute period each day for five days a week, Sunday through Thursday (which is the work week in Israel).  This was to last for a 5 week period, which will be hard for me.  Adina and I live in Ma'ale Levona, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Jerusalem, and for her to travel into town each day would cost NIS 37.20 a day.  Multiply that out by 25 (the number of treatment days) and you wind up with the rather steep cost of NIS 930.  When you consider how little we make, that 930 shekels is going to be a problem.  So, we are working on ways to cut it down.

According to the oncologist, that is the easy route.  If it turns out that the tumor is problematic, there will be chemotherapy as well, which will start sooner.  

The next BIG step was the pre-op meeting on 27 August.  We took the early bus into Jerusalem and bought our medicines for the month.   Then we had a quick breakfast and took the light rail to Sha'are Tzedeq - we got there by 8:30, later than we had planned.  This was the day when we were shuffled like peasants in a Russian government office.  First we had to go to admissions to submit the forms that allowed us to be trtested at Sha'are Tzedeq, called a hitHayevút [התחייבות] in Hebrew.   Then it was up to the fifth floor to meet with the surgeon, who detailed once again the operation.  An additional detail, which we were not aware of, was added at this meeting.  The surgeon was going to take out some one or more of the lymph nodes to assure (hopefully) that there would be no remaining cancer.  After this brief meeting, we were shuffled to a waiting room and then called to meet with an anesthesiologist - who took details on Adina's health - and who asked her to stick out her tongue a number of times.  Then we were told to go to the waiting room where a nurse finally called out Adina's name for an EKG.  Then it was back to the waiting room to wait to be called in for another doctor to consult with us.  All she did was  to create a computer record of Adina on Sha'are Tzedeq's computer.  However, in addition to all this, we would have to get a summary from our family doctor.  That would mean a long trip to East Talpiot (in southern Jerusalem) where our family doctor is.  Then we were given our file and told to find the coordinating nurse, talk with her, and then finally, to go for a chest X-ray.  Before we left I called the family doctor and asked the secretary if she could have a summary prepared for us top fax to Sha'are Tzedeq.   

The coordinating nurse and the chest X-ray were both on the 2nd floor of the hospital.  It was nearly noon and we were hungry, but we tried to follow instructions and go to the coordinating nurse.  We called her and got her voice mail.  I left a message, and we waited - and waited.  Finally, losing patience, I suggested we get Adina to the imaging center for the chest X-ray - which did not take too long.  Then still holding this file in hand, I decided to go directly to the Breast Care Institute to hunt up the people we needed to see.  It was my nose for finding things that got us finally to the Breast Care Institute.  The coordinating nurse was out sick - but we had managed to find the young lady who will schedule the surgery, and we were ab le to leave our file with her.

After having lunch - a tuna sandwich that tasted like cat food - we both took the light rail in the general direction of down-town Jerusalem.  My wife got off at the Central Bus station to return to Ma'ale Levona.  I continued onward to the MaHane Yehuda Shouk (a huge market) so I could catch a bus going to East Talpiot.

In spite of all the time everything seemed to take, I managed to get the 5:25 bus to Ma'ale Levona.  I was exhausted.  Adina was sleeping when I got home.

The final chapter of this adventure - so far- is now the waiting for the actual operation. We got a call Wednesday that the operation would be next Monday (2 September).  But then later in the day we were told that a woman whose case was very severe had bumped my wife from the queue - and that they would try for next Wednesday.  And now, on the lip of the Shabbat, that is where we are.  So, we'll see.

Husband and wife are sharing their tears, fears and courage together. May they be blessed with the healing they pray for.

A medical crisis - you'd cry too, if it happened to you. Use your tissues and handkerchiefs with my blessings borne of experience. GOD gives you Permission to Weep. And you can say that to any critics after explaining that "It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To."



"Happiness has little to do with what we get and everything to do with what we give" - Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Want to give your medical or disability situation the best of your ever-developing self? Buy the E-book or print edition today. Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Monday, August 27, 2012

Facebook Friends Can Start a Reading Club!

B'SD

Elul 9,5772

Look what I woke up to when I glanced at Facebook this morning:





The book alerts readers to conventional and alternative and complementary medicine resources around the world, plus to charitable organizations willing to pay part or all of an applicant's unaffordable medical bills.

It even teaches you 
how to organize 
chaotic paperwork, 
appointment schedules 
and emotions
(including those of rude relatives
and medical practitioners)!

Reader Raina Steinman wants her world of Facebook friends to read what medical and mental health professionals recommend. Find out why.



I wonder when some Facebook Friends will launch a reading club for EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Sunday, August 26, 2012

How One Husband and Wife are Coping with Her Breast Cancer, Cover to Cover

B'SD

8 Elul, 5772

The Jewish year is rapidly ending (Jews begin to celebrate Rosh HaShana/Jewish New Year on the evening of Sunday September 16 2012. The lunar date will be 29 Elul/1 Tishrei 5773).

One of the hardest things in life is to face celebratory events with optimism when you're also facing fear, pain, questions without human answers, and uncertainty. Here's what one husband and wife are doing about her breast cancer diagnosis:


Reuven Kossover I will be starting a new thread - Adina's Cancer Journal - to tell you what we are going through - but, more importantly, to help you if we can. My first message, though, is this. I strongly recommend getting hold of Yocheved Golani's book, "It's My Crisis and I'll Cry If I Want To". Having seen many many "self-help" books over 40 years or so, this is not just another one. It is a workbook for the person facing a life-threatening or severe crisis, that invites the reader to develop his own iron-clad wall of positivity in the face of what can be hell on earth.


There's more to the story!


  • It's time for me to actually write that Cancer Journal I said I would write. I'll tell you this, though. Adina loves your book - and has picked out a mantra to live by.





Mr. Kossover has chosen to prepare a blogpost for us. Stand by for news and see if you can guess which mantra Mrs. Kossover chose from the EMPOWER Yourself book!

Buy the E-book or print edition today for a brighter look at your medical situation. Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Friday, August 24, 2012

How to Start Your Weekend Smiling Despite Your Illness and/or Disability

B'SD

6 Elul, 5772

Of the hardest challenges of illness and/or disabilities is to deal with a sense of disappointment. It feels like a growing pit in your stomach or high blood pressure and sadness. There are ways to override your sense of negativity.


One of the BIG, effective "Developing coping skills" suggestions in EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge  is to develop a sense of gratitude for what IS going comfortably, "right" and easily in your medical or disability life.


My visual acuity literally changes each time I blink. Yes, I see differently with every wave of my eyelashes. That complicates things a bit. So I'm going to (alphabetically) model to you how I focus on what's going "right" in my life. I'm grateful for:
  • Books
  • Fresh air
  • Friends
  • Good food filled with nutrition and flavors I enjoy
  • Knowing that my vision is improving over time (the evidence is in the "Blink of my eyes" phenom)
  • Music
  • My garden of flowers and veggies
  • PAID bills (in today's wobbling global economy that's a BIG blessing)
  • Social time with people I value
  • Spiritual insights
  • That I can communicate in writing (that takes me a while but thank GOD I can persevere)
  • That I can do favors for other people
  • That people appreciate my input in their healing efforts
  • The ability to laugh
I'm grateful for far more 
but you don't have all day 
to read about it ;^ D

Start listing the stuff that makes you smile. Consider what else goes well in your life and helps you along. Sometimes we mortals overlook those realities. LIST THEM in some sort of journal each day. When you're feeling down and defeated, those reminders can make a mighty big difference in your life.

Don't believe me? Listen to this shrink explain The Secret to Better (and BEYOND Average)...

Change the lens through which you view your realities. Start your weekend getting your grin back.



Click on the title to buy the E-book or print edition to EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge today. And let me know how the book helps you.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

How to Restore Your Sense of Joy for Inner and Outer Health - Despite a Disability!

B'SD

4 Elul, 5772

One of the limitations of an illness or disability is on leisure travel. Thrilling views and experiences seem out of reach. 

I believe in finding solutions to  problems and came up with today's idea for a blogpost. I hope you'll enjoy this praise of deep sea diver's Jacques Cousteau's Calypso boat and adventures, courtesy of John Denver.



If you want to sing along, click on Lyrics to Calypso. Have full-throated fun!

When you're ready to consider how to travel with your disability, be sure to read page 98 (plus a few other pages) in the Global Resources section of






Buy the E-book or print edition today to EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical (or Disability) Challenge

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

How to Develop an Iron-clad Wall of Positivity in the Face of Illness/Disability!

B'SD

3 Elul, 5772 



One of EMPOWER Yourself's newer readers is a woman facing breast cancer. Here's what her husband thinks of the book (his remarks were originally in yesterday's post, an accident on my part. I'd like to present them all on their own: 

"Ron" wrote on his Facebook wall: "I will be starting a new thread - Adina's Cancer Journal - to tell you what we are going through - but, more importantly, to help you if we can. My first message, though, is this. I strongly recommend getting hold of Yocheved Golani's book, "It's My Crisis and I'll Cry If I Want To". Having seen many many "self-help" books over 40 years or so, this is not just another one. It is a workbook for the person facing a life-threatening or severe crisis, that invites the reader to develop his own iron-clad wall of positivity in the face of what can be hell on earth."

Sure enough, Ron's wife Adina had needed a good cry when she learned her diagnosis. And she learned what to say to anyone who criticizes her for that, in the opening pages of the book.

A medical crisis - you'd cry too, if it happened to you. Use your tissues and handkerchiefs with my blessings borne of experience. GOD gives you Permission to Weep (read all about it on page 5!). You can say that to any critics after explaining that "It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To."

Then strengthen yourself to face the situation with decency and growing inner strength.



Buy the E-book or print edition today so you and your loved ones can smile again, too: Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Monday, August 20, 2012

If You Want to Tell People the Truth, Make Them Laugh...

B'SD

2 Elul, 5772

One of those most difficult things about facing a medical or disability challenge is the utter humorlessness of the situation: anger, fear, frustration, embarrassment, hard work, PAIN, just name the complication!


But there are ways to deal with all that 
so that you do not fall apart. 

Sounds preachy and goody-goody silly, right?

Oscar Wilde taught an important lesson: "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh. Otherwise, they'll kill you."

Suppose a former English major who actually studied Oscar Wilde had considered his advice when writing




Yes, I'm that writer. Here's an outtake of some of the humor in the book, about how to change the way you did things before your diagnosis and after learning it:

Organization
Doctors appointments, insurance papers, calls to make, child care issues, nosy neighbors, relatives who just don’t "Get it," have you seen the baby, meals to prepare, pills and potions to swallow or shots to inject, omigawd we need a really BIG bank account, where are my keys, did anyone see the remote and why is the dog making noise like that?

Ever feel as if your inner PC and its memory banks just went and shut down on you? Read on and find some solutions to the problem.

Many people facing medical crises have so much to remember that their inner filing cabinets overflow. They reach a point where they wonder if they’re losing their minds! Know the feeling? You forget almost everything? Even how old you are?

As you read earlier, I experienced no less than five benign brain tumors and their surgical removal. A human head does not have much space for tolerating all that intrusion and banging around upon soft brains. People who’ve experienced brain injury often suffer memory problems. So can anyone facing any type medical crisis. Stress hurts. And medical intervention messes up the insides of your body even more! I lost some memorization ability after my treatments. I benefited from a rehabilitation program for the brain injured. Students of every age in my program learned many tips for vastly improving our memory power. Here are a few tips I'll share with you:

Keep a reasonably sized notebook or day-planner with you all the time. Record upcoming: appointments, social events, PTA meetings and other important scheduled stuff as soon as you commit to it or even hear of it.

Keep repeating a person's name in the conversation as normally as possible when you first meet.

Collect business cards when offered to you. On the back, make notes of where you met and what they look like, your 1st impressions of the person, anything remarkable they said, e.g., Redhead, skinny, laughs a lot. Met at Joe's celebration dinner

Put your stuff away in the same place all the time. NO LAZY SHORTCUTS! Shoes and clothes go in closets, not in chairs, the wrong room or atop doors.

Kitchenware gets washed, dried and immediately put away. When you're cooking, ALWAYS use a timer to alert you to shut off the heat.

Me, I keep my keys in the front door once I lock it from inside. I wear them on a cloth strap, a key strip around my neck, when I leave home. I never lose keys anymore.

Ever seen the funky new chains for holding your glasses around your neck? Use the one of your affordable choice. No need to feel like a moth-eaten relic. The new styles are super-trendy. And you won't lose your glasses.

Using the above techniques jogs the memory cells. Watch. You'll end up teaching folks who never had tumors, brain injuries or any sort of medical stress how improve THEIR memories!

The human body is full of quirky surprises. Some of them are quite interesting and not life-threatening. Follow the suggestions above and good advice from your therapists and medical team. Not every forgotten thought is a danger sign. Now, on to some techniques for straightening out that mother lode of medical and insurance paperwork…

As you make your way through your medical crisis or that of your loved one, the pile of papers with important phone numbers, addresses and other information will grow. If you fail to organize it, the mess can make a wreck of your get-well efforts.

If you're the sort of person who hasn't yet succeeded at organizing your life, I offer sweet solace with simple advice:

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window but coaxed downstairs one step at a time.” – Mark Twain...

So much for that (I hope you giggled or at least smiled a bit as you read the above) ;^ D 




Buy the E-book or print edition today for a brighter future. Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Why Life’s a Work in Progress - and What You Can Do About That

B'SD

28 Av, 5772

You just learned that you might have a medical problem. 

Your life might even be on the line. 

Or maybe you're facing some other issue that feels like the wrecking ball of your life. There are times I comfort someone deeply unhappy with the way their life is going: abusive relatives or acquaintances (they're definitely NOT friends!), choices that backfired, scary news of some sort. 

Heartache, physical pain, emotional upheaval, mental or physical workouts and expenses of different kinds can be part of the picture. They sap energy and sometimes hope. That's normal.

Are you condemning yourself for pulling back, for withdrawing from some activities and situations? Are you loading up on feel-good calories that will bloat you? Have you done something else you hate to realize? The good news is that you're aware of better choices you can make. Let's look at some of your options.

"The road to success is almost always under construction," I comment to troubled people. "Sometimes you just need time and rest to recover from the strain of it all. Then you can pick up where you left off. You might even have thought through some innovative ideas to help you along. That’s why your life is a work in progress. You work at it, rest, pick up where you left off and watch the progress."

The nifty thing about that recovery period is that it lets you charge up your emotional and physical batteries. That enables you to be exceptional, to rise above the turmoil. How about just coping with the adversity in a way that restores your self-respect? Okay, here are three terrific tips for doing just that:

1.    Make a list of your inner 
negative beliefs
on the left side of 
some paper

2.    List your survival instincts 
in the middle column,
pairing them with the
problems you're facing

3.    On the right margin, 
briefly state the positive 
and negative thoughts
or reactions you have 
to specific problems

Discuss all that with someone who totally respects you and can provide you with insight for how to have a better future. Face your unfolding future with empowering statements of "I will..." such as "I will control my eating behaviors," "I will plan a realistic budget," "I will find out how to behave in better ways with X, Y or Z problems."

You can start crossing off the negativity notes as you make progress with your unfolding future. You're realizing your better self, now. Enjoy the process and take notes on what improves in your life!


Want to learn more can-do ideas 
for coping with 
your illness and/or disability? 

Read


Buy from Booklocker when you click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge



Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Here's How to Put Out the PAIN from Poison Ivy!

B'SD

26 Av 5772

Vacation time can be compromised when you're nursing the itch and P*A*I*N of Poison Ivy. Here are several pain-stoppers popular in the natural healing world:


  • A paste of baking soda and coffee pack to sit on the rash as it draws out the poison
  • Banana peel straight on the affected skin
  • Bentonite Clay (available from natural healing outlets) mixed with Tumeric (a spice)
  • Milk of Magnesia
  • Plain oatmeal bath or pharmacy-sold popular oatmeal bath preparations which take the itch out of chickenpox sufferers
  • Watermelon slices on the rash 

You can learn to identify the problematic plant by seeing photos of different varieties at WIKIHOW's Poison Ivy ID page.

 
Distract yourselves with as much fun as possible as you recover: Videos, music, good reading, craft projects, anything that occupies your mind more than the pain.

Good luck and let me know which remedy works for you!

Less stress and keep your cash, that’s the theme of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. It teaches you how to organize that medical and/or disability life, save money and to Get Your Grin Back in one reading. Buy it from Booklocker!



Buy the E-book or print edition today when you click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.