It's An App World

Me and my new best friend Droid are getting along amazingly well. I like this one much better than it's older sibling I'd been saddled with the last few years. Yesterday I realized, about a decade after most people, this phone can do pretty much anything I want it to. I didn't like the calendar/appointment book already installed so I went app shopping to find one with Leah-friendly interface. Which pretty much means extremely simple and not controlling. Well that was harder to find than I thought. They all do these spiffy things I just don't want them to do, like log onto conference calls and import appointments into that magic database in the sky so everyone can have access to it. Then it links up with Facebook and really, who needs to actually think ever again? 

While I was trolling for free apps I came across some very interesting options indeed. There were female monthly cycle trackers and medication reminders and even a Zippo flame so I can hold my phone up at a concert instead of a lighter and wave it back and forth. Since I go to so many concerts. There was even a mirror to look at yourself, using the camera to somehow project your face back at you. But by far the most shocking, and there were quite a few of them I might add, app I found turns the phone into something "electric" one might get at an "adult novelty shop." Honestly I laughed so hard I think I got the equivalent of 100 crunches in with my stomach muscles contracting. What ever will they think of next?

Eventually I found the calendar I was looking for. I also found an app to record my medical information, quite helpful if someone finds me and my phone together but I can't talk. I plugged in my medications and dosage, emergency contact, pharmacy, doctors and plethora of diagnoses. I feel safer already. I was quite pleased to see pain trackers, too. Exploring this latest discovery I realized there is so much these nifty little devices can do for us chronic pain patients. Keeping track of pain severity and duration, sleep, activity and stress can really help pinpoint triggers or things in our control which exacerbate flares. All that information is quite helpful in communicating with your doctor, too, and these apps make it all the easier. They even make charts and graphs! So as much as the 21st century dragged me into it by my hair kicking and screaming I am finally able to say, twelve years in, maybe this technology thing ain't all that bad after all.

Thanks for joining,

Leah