A Personal Health Diary ‘All About Me’

When was your last monthly cycle? If a puzzled look, or furrowed eyebrow is your answer, Stephanie Fisher has a response.

You just may need a journal. And not the “I had this kind of day” type of diary. Instead, Fisher, 45, of Horsham, encourages all women to keep their health at their fingertips via her conversational journal-style book, “My Personal Health Diary.”

“It is not medical. It’s more like talking to a girlfriend,” said Fisher, an insurance underwriter of 27 years. “This is the baby book for the big girl.”

In fact, the 112-page, spiral bound book picks up where the pediatrician’s well child checkup booklet leaves off, covering a woman’s entire life cycle, everything from family history, vaccinations, allergies, pregnancy, periods, menopause and living wills. Perhaps most importantly, Fisher’s book leaves plenty of room for individual notes and questions.

“Knowledge is power,” she writes in the book’s introduction. “And is there anything in your life that you need to have power over more than your own health?”

The idea behind “My Personal Health Diary” was born from Fisher’s mother, Dorothy Jones. While Jones was battling uterine cancer several years ago, Fisher said she saw her inscribing medical information in a Christmas card book. In an emergency, her father would not know to look in the gift book and neither would medical professionals, Fisher said she told her mother.

“I didn’t have anything else,” said Jones, who has been cancer-free for almost seven years. She has since transferred her medical notes from the Christmas card book to her own copy of her daughter’s book. “When you have little children, you’re constantly writing things down … The parents forget that they would like to know when they got their last period, when they started menopause … We need to keep records.”

Proving it’s never too soon to keep a health journal, Fisher said she’s started a health diary for her 10-year-old daughter Katie. Fisher chronicles her own personal medical stuff as well in the health diary she keeps on her table.

“There is a chance your child is going to go through the same thing,” Fisher said. “You need to know you’re not alone.”

The health diary was supposed to hit Barnes & Noble stores in a big way several years ago, Fisher said. Her first publishing contract and initial stint in the industry involved the nationwide bookseller ordering 10,000 copies of "My Personal Health Diary." Then, the economy bottomed out and so did the order, and her publishing contract.

But, the ever-resilient Fisher - who sells candles, quirky wine-themed T-shirts and baked goods mixes that use wine instead of water as part of her All-About Me side business - bounced back with an unlikely publisher. 

Like her inspiration for the book, Fisher’s current publisher, Leonard Media Group, came about by happenstance. During a power outage in her home, Fisher said she met her neighbor, Jeff Leonard. After the two got to talking, Fisher said she found out that Leonard’s company publishes books and magazines for people with disabilities.

A light bulb lit in Fisher’s head. She knew she’d found her publisher, and local to boot. She credits her own persistence with inking the deal with Leonard Media Group and its publishing of “My Personal Health Diary” in May 2010.

“I’m a tenacious pain-in-the-butt,” Fisher said of her frequent calls to Leonard. “I live two doors away. Seriously, you think I won’t show up?”

Leonard said his company works “very infrequently” with books such as Fisher’s.

“I sort of like the concept,” Leonard said. “I’ve never seen it as simplified as it is here.”

For Fisher, simple is the name of the game.

“You need facts,” she said. “You need information.”

And who better than the individual person to know all the ins and outs, all the highs and lows and peaks and valleys of one’s life, including the date of their last monthly cycle?