By Jet Kaehn
Like most career women, my daily routine consists of juggling both work and personal demands. Life seems overwhelming at times, and too often there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. To keep from going over the edge, I learned to improve my organizational skills and the result has helped to eliminate stress and keep my mind better focused on the tasks at hand.
When the PDA craze hit a few years ago, I purchased a Sony CLIE. I thought, "What better way to stay on top of things than to carry a miniature computer with me at all times?" I quickly adapted to the convenience it brought to my hectic lifestyle and loaded it down with addresses, phone numbers, to-do lists, reminders and the like. But when I was forced to deal with some serious female-related health issues, my CLIE became more than just convenient -- it, along with the right software, became a vital tool that played a big part in my recovery.
To help my OB/GYN diagnose my condition, I started to search for software for my CLIE that would allow me to record and maintain a comprehensive health-log no matter where I happened to be at the time.
There were plenty of calendar, reminder and note-taking programs out there, but very few provided a solution that was strictly geared towards women's health. The little "extras" incorporated into some applications were amusing, but honestly, I needed something efficient and productive, something that would assist me in closely tracking menstrual cycles and other personal data.
Considering the nature of the details I needed to monitor, a security feature that eliminated the possibility of someone else accessing such private information was also an important factor.
In my search, I came across Beiks' Woman Calendar, shown in Figure A, a tool designed for those who follow a natural family planning lifestyle.
FIGURE A
Woman Calendar can help you keep track of your health needs.
Once the program was installed on my CLIE, I discovered that it not only met my needs but I loved the convenience of being able to access the program whenever I needed, because my CLIE is always with me.
Woman Calendar tracks health-related details specific to women. The program is useful in monitoring menstrual cycles, predicting and charting ovulation data and fertility times, printing ovulation charts, scheduling and documenting doctor appointments, and maintaining other health-related information.
Using Woman Calendar, I began to record various details, sharing the information with my gynecologist on a regular basis. Woman Calendar conveniently eliminated the need to drag a paper calendar around in my purse and it was reassuring to know that should my CLIE be misplaced or stolen, the information was locked down with password protection and conveniently backed up on my desktop computer where I could easily retrieve it.
