How I Used GoodNotes and my Bullet Journal During Breast Cancer Treatment

I used the GoodNotes app to keep track of a lot of information during my breast cancer treatment. My digital bullet journal allowed me to jot a note down or write an inspirational message to myself. I also used GoodNotes to collect and consolidate my research during treatment. 

GoodNotes is a reliable app that syncs across all of my devices so I could have access to my notes even if I had left my iPad at home. I’ve already shared that it is my go-to app for my digital bullet journal. I don’t just use the app to write down my daily plans. It is a great tool to collect digital printouts of any information I need to keep track of.  

Collecting Digital Information

There was so much information to collect during my breast cancer diagnosis process. It seemed like I was learning new terms every day. It began when I opened up my mammogram report and read the radiology report. I didn’t know what the words meant. What was a BiRads score, and what did it mean for my treatment?

Whenever I came across unfamiliar terms or procedures, I searched and found out everything I could about them. Once I came across reliable information, I would print the page to a .pdf to have an offline copy of it. I would then import that .pdf into a notebook on the GoodNotes app.  

Once it was inside of GoodNotes, I could highlight important information, take notes in the margin, or search for particular words in the document. GoodNotes automatically indexes both handwriting and text. You can use the search function to find any terms you are looking for, whether in your handwritten notes or in a pdf you’ve imported.  

I ended up creating a notebook for my breast cancer research. Whenever I came across pertinent research studies or information about the latest treatments, I would add the info to my notebook. This digital notebook is about 400 pages long and is searchable. 

GoodNotes was an excellent place for me to store all of the information I gathered for my treatment and recovery.  

Bullet Journal

I used Goodnotes to plan my days out during my breast cancer treatment. It could hold my daily to-dos, notes from appointments, and record notes from my phone calls.

I looked through the pages in my notebook from before surgery. I can tell, just by looking at the pages, that a lot was going on. Here are just a few of the pages I found:

•  Dave’s notes from my pre-surgical appointment. 
• List of things that I needed to do before surgery. 
• Brain dump from the middle of the night
• Notes from a call with the insurance company
• List of family and friends to update after surgery
• Bible verses
• Recipe for my French crockpot meal
• Errand List
• Dog Packing List
• Packing List for the hospital

I can tell what kind of mood I was in by the style of handwriting. Some days I wrote in cursive and took lots of time to make it pretty. Other days had notes that were hastily printed and not organized.  

Whatever I needed to remember, I wrote down. This was really important because I had so much to think about. By jotting the notes, I found that I could get the ideas out of my head and then get on with the rest of my day.  

Encouraging Words and Journal Entries

As I look through my bullet journal pages, I see that I wrote out Bible verses at the top of my daily pages. These helped me to stay encouraged throughout the ups and downs of treatment.  

I would also jot notes to myself at the end of each day. I wrote down what worked during the day and what didn’t. 

Here are a few of the notes and verses I wrote out: 

• Psalm 118:29: “Give thanks to the Lord for His goodness: His kindness endures forever.”
• Psalm 105:4: “Seek after the Lord and His strength, seek his face evermore.”
• Psalm 106:1: “ Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, for His kindness endures forever.”
• Try not to exhaust myself into tears today.
• Be mindful of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual
• Exhaustion feels like a fog
• Day 2 of Radiation: Done 10% finished. Listened to music. That helped.

The final entry of the year :

• Psalm 138:7 ” Though my way be distressful, yet you preserve me: you lay your hand on my angry foes, and your right hand gives me victory.”

Looking back on my journal, I can see how my challenges increased as I moved through radiation. In fact, I have no entries for the first few weeks of December. This makes sense because I was so exhausted from the treatments.

I’m grateful that I could capture both the things I did and my thoughts during treatment. It was therapeutic to write things out. 

Shared Notebooks

One of the newer features of GoodNotes is the ability to have a shared notebook with someone. This wasn’t available during my treatment, but I have used it recently during the college planning sessions with Ken. We had a digital notebook for each of the universities in consideration. Both of us could add new pages to it. This allowed us to have a unified place to gather information.  

I could see this shared notebook feature being useful during cancer treatment. I greatly benefited from having someone with me during my appointments (pre-covid). This person would be my notetaker. It was so helpful to have someone else taking down the information. A shared notebook in GoodNotes would allow caregivers to take notes, even if they cannot physically be present.  

Using GoodNotes Beyond Breast Cancer

GoodNotes was so helpful for me during my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. It was a digital hub for my research. It allowed me to prepare for my appointments by writing my questions down in advance. It also gave me a place to write myself encouragement throughout treatment.  

I continue to use GoodNotes daily. It is a place for me to do my long-range planning, sort out the monthly finances, and plan out my days. 

I have bullet journal templates for daily, weekly, and monthly planning in the subscriber’s resource library. I also have pages specifically designed to take notes in medical appointments. Subscribe to my email list today for free access!