First Steps for Survival

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If you don’t already have them, contact an attorney and get these items:

• Durable Power of Attorney

• Living Will

 

Small journal and a pen that you can carry with you everywhere, or use the Notes app on your phone. You will need to take notes from doctors, nurses, etc., and in this frame of mind, it is very difficult to remember everything. Carry a list of his/her medicines, since you’ll need to share it with a lot of different doctors.

 

Ask a trustworthy friend to come with you to meetings with Social Security, partner’s employer, your attorney, etc. You will be provided a lot of information and be asked to make many decisions. It is good to have someone who is not in crisis mode to ask good questions and remember things you might not.

 

Get a filing system set-up for the massive amounts of paper that will begin arriving from the hospital, insurance companies, etc. I used an accordion file from Staples, since everywhere I went needed copies of things that were in that file.