Here are a few features (well, a lot really, but only a few features compared to the number of features it has) that I love, and think you might love too! Bare in mind too, that I don't expect anyone to read the whole list, so I've highlighted the point of each section. Have fun!
- It has a stopwatch function for checking my pulse, or timing the rate at which some medications are supposed to be administered
- It has a timer that is easy and reliable to use - and it can have a different ring tone than some of the other alarms on the phone
- It has an address book that I keep all my emergency, medical team, and family numbers in. When you're in bed 24-7 you can't keep getting up to find a number very much or at all. When you are feeling rotten and need to call an emergency number, it's handy to find the number and let the phone dial it for you (or do voice dial). And, when you are packing to go to the hospital, you have only to bring your phone so that you have your books, your addresses, your calendar, you're appointments, your timers etc all in one compact place. Yee haw!
- It has ical, a calendar you can use to set alarms for different days, and different months etc., BUT the reason it stands out so much to me is that you can set it up (easily) to alert you at the time desired time as well as at a desired interval length afterwards - so, if you're supposed to take a medication and are on the phone when your alarm goes off, it's okay. It will remind you again at a designated second alert time
- It has a calculator that is easy and reliable to use. I use it for calculating my fluid totals for the day, or how many syringes and other supplies I need to order in a 13 day period (for some reason I never managed to memorize my thirteen time tables:) ).
- It's easy to text: I really never believed I would text anyone... but I confess that I love it. When you are feeling miserably tired, you don't feel like calling people, or taking the time to call up email to be able to send a big email. But, a text, well that's easy. No one expects you to send a lot via text, and it is an easy way to confirm shifts for attendant care, or send your hubby a note to say hello, or keep in touch with family members, or for asking someone to pick a little something up for you.... It can be exhausting keeping up with everyone when you're so ill, but this texting makes it so much easier.... And, when I am back in hospital emergency, we can text family to update them without having to leave the unit to use the phone. That's awesome!
- If texting really still isn't your friend, then you can send email via your iPhone. What I especially love is that when I'm on the iPhone I can still see the emails I've already downloaded to my computer and vice versa. It's not on one or the other.
- Audio books are very important to me. I don't sleep much and I don't want to keep my hubby up, so I listen to books at night. I love that there are functions for rewinding by 30 seconds, or manually rewinding to where you want to be, but it also has the ability to speed up or slow down the speed of the speaker.
- I have a free flashlight app that I use on the iPhone, so that I no longer need to turn on the lights at night to get to the bathroom, and I can do injections at night in bed without waking up my husband, or trying to fiddle with lights. That flashlight app is amazing.
- There's an hours tracker app I love that helps track the hours people are here doing attendant care, so I can pay them accordingly
- itunes is easy to use, and I love all the items you can share between the iPhone and the computer so easily. They sync well, and save time, and I can easily listen to whatever I want on it.
- The camera function is amazing! One of my meds affects my eyes, and things are blurry for a while. In a pinch when no one was available to assist, I drew up my meds, took a picture of the syringe, and used the finger pattern for zooming into the picture so that it was nice and big and I could tell exactly how much medication was in that syringe. When purple chunks were coming out of my feeding tube and I didn't know what they were (other than really not good!), I took a picture and gave it to the Doctor. Antibiotics were immediately prescribed.
- The other handy-dandy thing about the video function/camera function is that it is great when my little kidlet friends come over. Sophie is 16 months old, and I use the button that makes the camera look at the person holding the phone rather than what the phone is aimed at. Sophie loves her "moving mirror" and walks all over with it. And, I have to say that easily having the phone there for those reasons gives me an added benefit too - I can look at those photos/videos in the days/weeks/months to come, and it brings me great joy (and it's easy to delete the as many of the dud pictures too, and to sync them with my computer so they're easily available everywhere I am able to be:))
- Of course the clock function is great too. Not all hospital rooms, or recovery rooms at home have a clock that is easy to see, or that is lit to see in the dark.
- The ability to set different sounds for different alarms is very useful. I know by the sound if it is time to take a medication, or a reminder that the physiotherapist will be here in a few minutes (and I don't have to stop what I am doing to look).
- You can watch TV shows and/or movies on it too. Though, they're pretty little.
- I can't wait to try this function: the Face-time function. I can't travel. I live in a hospital bed in my living room. And, not everyone can travel to me either. So, having the ability to do face time (i.e. skype kind of talking where you are seeing the person you are speaking with and vice versa).
- Living in the country as I do, we have had a hard time getting reliable Internet usage. When the Internet is not working, I still have the Internet via the iPhone because it uses a different kind of signal - it accesses the cell towers or something like that (I don't pretend to be a technical ninja), and presto, I have Internet whenever I need it!
- And, when you are on the Internet, it is really really easy to see where you are because a) you can enlarge the page you're on simply by spreading two fingers apart. Viewing is also made easier everywhere else because a magnifying glass will appear as you need it.
- The weather function it comes with is handy. There is a simple app (that was on the iPhone when I got it I believe) that tells me what it is actually like outside in my own small community.
- The Notes function is awesome too. When you need to write something down, but don't feel so good and don't want to/can't get up, it's great to use the notes function. Jot down what you need, and make as many notes as you want.
- The voice memo function is amazing too. If you have trouble typing, or are in a hurry, use your voice memo function, and tell the phone what it is you want to remember. For that matter, there is also a google app that works with it, where you can tell the phone what it is that you want to search and it does it for you.
- The settings are great too. You can make the screen less or more bright (I make it darker at night so it doesn't light up the room and wake up my hubby, but it is also handy if you have troubles looking at bright things. You can also change the background pictures to get a good contrast (I find it easier to see the icons when the background is a deep blue), and more...
I think it would be easy for me to go on and on and on about the wonders of the iPhone. It has changed so much for me. It has revolutionized my recovery in so many ways, but the 3 most important ways are:
- It's helped me get more consistent in timing of foods and medications (meds). Bodies like that in recovery (and otherwise too I think!). And as i am more consistent I have more energy.
- Medications are on time, the things that were unsafe to forget in a day, are now never forgotten because alarms prompt us to remember specific items (e.g. we kept forgetting to unclamp one of my IV meds. this is bad, cause it means you don't get the meds at all until you remember to unclamp it. That can get dangerous). Now, we set one alarm and ask it to be repeated on a daily basis, and it then automatically prompts me each day to take that clamp off. It's great.
- I'm communicating more (and more efficiently) with loved ones, professionals, and myself even (with all the notes I leave to myself) and made me feel more connected to the outside world as a result.
So, there you have it. Other "smart phones" may be very valuable, but I would never trade in my iPhone (and no, they are not paying me to say so). It's easy to use, and easy to use, and I use it every day. Price: I pay about $60 per month (expensive I know), but it is worth it to me. At the end of the 3 year contract I will own it. You can buy it outright for up to $700 or so I've seen (or an older version for less)...
It truly is a decision that needs to be carefully considered because of it's price, but to me it is a weighted wonder!
Happy recovery!
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