Mobile Apps: Track Your Treatment, Check Symptoms, and More
Wouldn’t it be nice, the next time you’re visiting your oncologist, to be able to take out your iPhone and tell the doctor exactly what side effects you had, on what days, after your last chemo treatment? Or better yet – email the information without ever typing an email?
Or quickly tell a nurse specifically what medicines you’re taking, on what schedule, when she’s trying to figure out drug interactions?
Or how about being able to post treatment updates to family and friends via your CaringBridge account – while you’re hanging out in the waiting room with nothing to do?
Welcome to the brave new world of breast cancer apps.
If you have a smart phone (a phone that can connect to the Internet – e.g., iPhone, Android, Blackberry, HP/Palm, etc.), you’ve probably heard the term mobile apps, or just plain apps. Short for applications, it refers, in most basic terms, to Web-based things you can do with your phone.
Like check the weather in China. See a satellite view of your neighborhood on Google Earth. Or play a game (which is actually the most widespread use of apps).
Apps can be as simple as connecting to Facebook; or as complex as scanning the barcode of a package of cookies at the supermarket, getting their nutritional analysis, and reading suggestions for what might be a healthier choice (Fooducate).
When you find the right apps, ones you like and use, they can quickly become part of your daily life – a kind of personal assistant helping you remember appointments and shopping lists, navigate from Point A to Point B, and connect with friends.
Surprisingly, apps can also help you manage your breast cancer treatment.
There are literally millions of apps available; most are free, and many of the rest cost a minimal amount. But there are very few that are truly useful for dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis.
There are a lot of apps that show you how to do a breast self exam, then send you a monthly reminder to do it. And many offer pink ribbon stuff, promote breast cancer awareness, or aggregate cancer news.
But for pure utility, I’ve found less than a handful of apps that will help you through your breast cancer diagnosis and ensuing treatment – or that of your mom, sister, or BFF.
Let’s check out my favorites.
Breast Cancer Diagnosis Guide
Developed by breastcancer.org
Version reviewed: 1.2
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: FREE
This app is a great tool for recording and using details of your diagnosis. You’ll access your pathology report to fill in information ranging from general (type of cancer, size of tumor) to specific (numbers on your ER/PR test).
Once all this data is entered, breastcancer.org will send you links to useful articles on its site specific to your diagnosis. For instance, if you’re a post-menopausal woman with ER/PR-receptive breast cancer, you may be linked to a study on aromatase inhibitors.
Developed by a well-respected non-profit, breastcancer.org, the site also has an incredibly helpful glossary of breast cancer terms. Want to know what lymphatic invasion is? Wondering about the Ki-67 test? How about cribiform DCIS? Simply scroll through the app’s comprehensive word list for definitions of many of the confusing terms you’ll find in your pathology report.
Or quickly tell a nurse specifically what medicines you’re taking, on what schedule, when she’s trying to figure out drug interactions?
Or how about being able to post treatment updates to family and friends via your CaringBridge account – while you’re hanging out in the waiting room with nothing to do?
Welcome to the brave new world of breast cancer apps.
If you have a smart phone (a phone that can connect to the Internet – e.g., iPhone, Android, Blackberry, HP/Palm, etc.), you’ve probably heard the term mobile apps, or just plain apps. Short for applications, it refers, in most basic terms, to Web-based things you can do with your phone.
Like check the weather in China. See a satellite view of your neighborhood on Google Earth. Or play a game (which is actually the most widespread use of apps).
Apps can be as simple as connecting to Facebook; or as complex as scanning the barcode of a package of cookies at the supermarket, getting their nutritional analysis, and reading suggestions for what might be a healthier choice (Fooducate).
When you find the right apps, ones you like and use, they can quickly become part of your daily life – a kind of personal assistant helping you remember appointments and shopping lists, navigate from Point A to Point B, and connect with friends.
Surprisingly, apps can also help you manage your breast cancer treatment.
There are literally millions of apps available; most are free, and many of the rest cost a minimal amount. But there are very few that are truly useful for dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis.
There are a lot of apps that show you how to do a breast self exam, then send you a monthly reminder to do it. And many offer pink ribbon stuff, promote breast cancer awareness, or aggregate cancer news.
But for pure utility, I’ve found less than a handful of apps that will help you through your breast cancer diagnosis and ensuing treatment – or that of your mom, sister, or BFF.
Let’s check out my favorites.
Breast Cancer Diagnosis Guide
Developed by breastcancer.org
Version reviewed: 1.2
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: FREE
This app is a great tool for recording and using details of your diagnosis. You’ll access your pathology report to fill in information ranging from general (type of cancer, size of tumor) to specific (numbers on your ER/PR test).
Once all this data is entered, breastcancer.org will send you links to useful articles on its site specific to your diagnosis. For instance, if you’re a post-menopausal woman with ER/PR-receptive breast cancer, you may be linked to a study on aromatase inhibitors.
Developed by a well-respected non-profit, breastcancer.org, the site also has an incredibly helpful glossary of breast cancer terms. Want to know what lymphatic invasion is? Wondering about the Ki-67 test? How about cribiform DCIS? Simply scroll through the app’s comprehensive word list for definitions of many of the confusing terms you’ll find in your pathology report.
iCANcer
Developed by two-time cancer survivor Naomi R. Bartley
Version reviewed: 1.1
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: $4.99
While this app is costlier than most, it’s an incredibly useful tool for managing treatment information. You know what a challenge it is to keep track of chemo drugs, hormone drugs, side effects (and their treatments), lab results, doctor appointments, your changeable radiation schedule… iCANcer not only stores all of this information (and more); it allows you to email any part of it, easily, to your provider, or a family member or friend who’s helping you.
iCancer graphs chemo side effects over time on a calendar, so you can plan your activities around future treatments; ditto lab results, and data from other tests. (Is your white cell count getting worse with each treatment, or is the Neulasta helping? How’s your blood pressure trending?)
If you’re worried about lifetime exposure to certain chemo drugs, or to radiation, iCANcer will track the specific doses you’re receiving of any drug or treatment, along with its date; then compile totals for you.
This app is also a simple tool for storing basic information: your appointment calendar (which you can synch with your iPhone/iPad calendar); and contact information for providers. A list of handy online resources ranges from the American Cancer Society, to the National Cancer Institute drug dictionary.
In short, this is a robust tool for managing treatment – for yourself, or a loved one.
iChemoDiary
developed by Merck Oncology
version reviewed: 1.1
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: FREE
This simple but useful app allows you to record chemo treatments and their side effects. Enter the drugs you’re receiving and date, then record side effects and their severity. Information can be viewed in graph form over time, so you can easily see your personal pattern of side effects, then use the information to plan future activities.
The information can also be emailed to yourself to share with your doctor at your next visit. It’s a challenge to remember what’s happened form one infusion to the next; iChemoDiary gives you a hand.
CaringBridge.org
Developed by caringbridge.org
Version: 3.1.2
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: FREE
CaringBridge is a well-known Web site for people dealing with serious illness; it allows the patient to stay in touch with family and friends. Start your own page on CaringBridge, then share the URL with those to whom you want to stay connected. That way, instead of writing or calling a whole list of people with updates on how your surgery went, your diagnosis, or how you’re feeling after treatment, you simply update your CB page, and anyone with whom you’ve shared the address can read what you’ve written. You can also maintain a photo album – if your great aunt in Montana wants to see how much your hair’s grown back!
You don’t necessarily have to create a page for yourself; perhaps it’s a friend, your sister, or your mom who’s undergoing treatment. If you’re the go-to caregiver, author and maintain a page for them. It’s a lot easier and more effective to post updates to a single page, than it is to contact folks one by one.
Developed by two-time cancer survivor Naomi R. Bartley
Version reviewed: 1.1
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: $4.99
While this app is costlier than most, it’s an incredibly useful tool for managing treatment information. You know what a challenge it is to keep track of chemo drugs, hormone drugs, side effects (and their treatments), lab results, doctor appointments, your changeable radiation schedule… iCANcer not only stores all of this information (and more); it allows you to email any part of it, easily, to your provider, or a family member or friend who’s helping you.
iCancer graphs chemo side effects over time on a calendar, so you can plan your activities around future treatments; ditto lab results, and data from other tests. (Is your white cell count getting worse with each treatment, or is the Neulasta helping? How’s your blood pressure trending?)
If you’re worried about lifetime exposure to certain chemo drugs, or to radiation, iCANcer will track the specific doses you’re receiving of any drug or treatment, along with its date; then compile totals for you.
This app is also a simple tool for storing basic information: your appointment calendar (which you can synch with your iPhone/iPad calendar); and contact information for providers. A list of handy online resources ranges from the American Cancer Society, to the National Cancer Institute drug dictionary.
In short, this is a robust tool for managing treatment – for yourself, or a loved one.
iChemoDiary
developed by Merck Oncology
version reviewed: 1.1
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: FREE
This simple but useful app allows you to record chemo treatments and their side effects. Enter the drugs you’re receiving and date, then record side effects and their severity. Information can be viewed in graph form over time, so you can easily see your personal pattern of side effects, then use the information to plan future activities.
The information can also be emailed to yourself to share with your doctor at your next visit. It’s a challenge to remember what’s happened form one infusion to the next; iChemoDiary gives you a hand.
CaringBridge.org
Developed by caringbridge.org
Version: 3.1.2
For: iPhone, iTouch, iPad
Cost: FREE
CaringBridge is a well-known Web site for people dealing with serious illness; it allows the patient to stay in touch with family and friends. Start your own page on CaringBridge, then share the URL with those to whom you want to stay connected. That way, instead of writing or calling a whole list of people with updates on how your surgery went, your diagnosis, or how you’re feeling after treatment, you simply update your CB page, and anyone with whom you’ve shared the address can read what you’ve written. You can also maintain a photo album – if your great aunt in Montana wants to see how much your hair’s grown back!
You don’t necessarily have to create a page for yourself; perhaps it’s a friend, your sister, or your mom who’s undergoing treatment. If you’re the go-to caregiver, author and maintain a page for them. It’s a lot easier and more effective to post updates to a single page, than it is to contact folks one by one.
CaringBridge is as much mobile-friendly Web site as app, but I wanted to include it here simply because it’s a useful, free service; and it’s a way to pass time while you’re sitting in the waiting room. Rather than read those dog-eared copies of People magazine, update your CaringBridge page. Your loved ones will thank you.
Hey, what about other devices?
Unfortunately, apps for Android and others seem to be lagging behind those for Apple devices. The only one I could find that seemed potentially useful is My Cancer App, just released in February 2011, for Android 2.2 and higher. It costs $1.00; check it out, if you have a Droid.
Hey, what about other devices?
Unfortunately, apps for Android and others seem to be lagging behind those for Apple devices. The only one I could find that seemed potentially useful is My Cancer App, just released in February 2011, for Android 2.2 and higher. It costs $1.00; check it out, if you have a Droid.
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