Surviving Healthcare

Published originally under the title 5 S.T.E.P.S. to Being Your Own Patient Advocate, this second edition sports a new title, a new cover, and a new focus. In an increasingly complex U.S. healthcare system, patients suffering from chronic illness are not always well served. Surviving Healthcare: 5 STEPS to Cutting Through the BS, Getting the Treatment You Need, and Saving Your Life does exactly what the title promises. Dr. Cristy Kessler shares her five-step protocol for navigating a difficult medical journey, providing strategies that patients and their caregivers can easily put into practice as they strive with their doctors for a positive outcome. The author describes each step, illustrating them from her own experience in surviving three deadly autoimmune diseases. At a time when the medical community had given up on her, Kessler doubled down and took charge of her healthcare needs. Working with a powerful team of doctors, she cut through the BS that is oh-so-familiar to patients with chronic illnesses, and not only found her diagnoses, she identified the most effective treatment, and ultimately got that treatment-a treatment that saved her life. The five steps are really very simple: Sensibility (knowing what your body is telling you and successfully communicating that to doctors), Teamwork (working proactively with your doctors and your network of supportive family and friends), Education (searching and researching issues related to your illnesses and helping your busy doctors find the treatment you need), Perseverance and Patience (knowing when to push for answers from the medical community and knowing when to slow down and give your doctors time to work with you), and, finally, Sustainability (maintaining a positive attitude, taking care of your physical and spiritual needs both before and after treatment). The life preserver image on the cover is more than a metaphor; the five steps described in this book offer patients with chronic illnesses and their loved ones real hope for the future. Through this book, Kessler tosses you a lifeline, that is, a series of strategies designed to keep you afloat in what might be a sea of despair and to bring you safely to the shore.