Happy Birthday to this blog, part 3

Continued from part 2

In hindsight, the first three months (11/28 through the Texas trip) were germination, early thinking, with signs of what lay ahead. The second three months were about exploration and education, as I started learning the lay of the land, understanding my first layers of how the US healthcare system works.

I also saw that I really want to produce results in this area. So although I didn't write about it here, in late May I attended Landmark's Conference for Global Transformation.

I didn't have the prerequisites to be a registered attendee, but somehow that didn't stop me. (Imagine that!) I just wanted to be in the "space" of a mass of people who are actively engaged in changing the world in all areas of life, so I assisted on the production team.

And man, did I emerge with a different kind of energy and a clearer focus. Landmark's technology is a kind of "applied ontology," a sort of existential booster shot that fortifies who you are in life, with a promise of "the power to be effective in the areas of life that matter most to you."

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Q3 (the third quarter of this blog) turned out to be my "coming out" - starting to gain a wider audience.

6/7: CaringBridge story

This was the Associated Press story about CaringBridge and CarePages by Stephanie Nano (a sharp reporter), which started with my story and featured a photo of my daughter Lindsey and me, going out to dinner to celebrate her engagement - an occasion that wouldn't have happened if things had turned out the way the statistics had suggested. :)


That same week, for the first time I was on a panel at the Mass Tech Leaders Council. They asked me to write something for their blog, which led me to write some material for new visitors in my next posts.

6/18: Why I blog and My cancer story - short version


During the spring on the e-patient blog we'd highlighted what we felt were some weaknesses in the viewpoint of CNN's "Empowered Patient" column. So I was very happy to be contacted by Elizabeth Cohen, health correspondent for that series, who asked my thoughts for a "pioneers" feature they were doing for July 4:

7/3: CNN's "Empowered Patient heroes" recognizes e-patient pioneers Tom Ferguson and Gilles Frydman


A profound moment for me was the discovery of two slides by Tom Ferguson MD, which he created when the Web was less than a year old. He foresaw (correctly!) how healthcare would be turned on its head when patients have access medical information and to each other. Visionary, foundational thinking:

7/18: Steal these slides



7/25: Illness in the Age of 'e'
Announcement of the paper and presentation that my doctor and I are doing.


Then came the series where I summarized the e-patient white paper over an 18 day span:

e-Patients: How they can help us heal healthcare, chapter 1: Hunters and Gatherers of Medical Information (8/5)

Chapter 2: Content, Connectivity, and Communityware (Includes the seminal "seven preliminary conclusions")

Chapter 3: Patient-Centered Networks: Connected Communities of Care

Chapter 4: The Surprisingly Complex World of e-Communities

Chapter 5: e-Patients as Medical Researchers

Chapter 6: Learning from e-Patients

Chapter 7: The autonomous patient (8/23)


Intermixed with that was misc. news:

8/10: Inspiring news from my cousin's blog

8/18: To heck with cancer; I don't like having a cold.

8/23: "Born To Be..." (levity from Levy)

8/28: Takin' It Back with Barack, Jack – still a great swing song for swing voters


And that brings us up to three months ago. For me the synopses of the white paper were the big moment: once I'd done that, I became about to express the content on my own. I wouldn't say I can quote it "chapter and verse" but I now have the ability to write and speak without that feeling of "What was that I read... wasn't there something about that in the white paper?"

Series ends with Part 4