56.5 Howe Enterprise June 18, 2018

Page 17

howeenterprise.com

Monday, June 18, 2018

A mild case of doctor fatigue glands preventing me from uttering a word. A real travesty, considering how much I like to talk. Which brings us to the final visit, during which the nurse recognizes my face. This time, the doctor arrives in a timely manner, inquiring as to my symptoms. I repeat them for the second time in four days. Seconds later, she asks, “So what symptoms are you experiencing today?” As if they have changed in the last thirty seconds. Samuel Moore-Sobel is a freelance writer. He is currently working on a memoir and publishes a blog which can be found by visiting www.holdingontohopetoday.com Follow him on both Facebook and Twitter.

I list them again. She reappears moments later, telling me I need a chest x-ray along with a battery of tests. “I heard fluid in your lungs,” she says, inciting a fear that I have somehow contracted pneumonia. I readily agree to the battery of tests, worried that something is deeply wrong with me. Perhaps this is the reason I have been so sick for so long, I wonder. Maybe this is the end.

Page #17

Ideas for a Summer Money Saving Challenge? Hey Taylor - I want to do a money saving challenge with my friends and family over the summer, but I feel like it needs to be really good to get them to sign on. Any ideas Taylor Kovar for a challenge that actually works? - Bella Hey Bella - First off, I think you have a great idea, as a group challenge is easier to commit to than when you’re doing it alone. I will give you three options and you can see which one you think will work best for your crew.

each day, depending on what you guys think is realistic. To make it a little more interactive, you can send out a money-saving tip during each day of the challenge. For example, you can email out links to different budget tracking services on day one. On day two, you can remind people to turn off electronics that aren’t in use to save on utilities. On day three you can talk about coupons available at the local grocery store. At the end, you can use some of the money for a fun outing or everyone can invest what they’ve saved and move on to an investment challenge!

3. Free for all. This isn’t actually as chaotic as it sounds. With this challenge, everyone has their own personal goals. For example, if you drive too much, your “Relax your arm,” the nurse tells 1. Food spending challenge. monthly goal is to cut back on gas me as she prepares to measure my Sometimes the best way to see spending. If your brother shops blood pressure. results is to limit your efforts to on Amazon too much, he has to Half an hour later, I realize the only one category. If everyone comes set a dollar amount and not spend “Wait – I remember you!” she says, commenting on her ability to end I have reached is darkening the up with a certain amount of money beyond that. If your friend drinks door of Patient First ever again. She they want to spend on food over Starbucks a lot, she has to make “remember faces.” the course of each week, there are coffee at home more often. prescribes a stronger antibiotic – several creative ways to hit those doxycycline this time – to knock Everyone should look to save the She should definitely remember goals. Some of you might try to same amount of money and goals mine. This is my third visit to her out the infection. skip eating out for lunch while can be based on how much was office in two weeks. others will make more dinners at The next day, I visit my plastic spent in the previous month. You home. If you’re all involved, you can have weekly meetings where It all began after I returned from a surgeon for an entirely unrelated can share recipes and even reason. people present receipts and talk trip to Kentucky. Throughout the combine your funds to have an about what they’re doing to curb trip, my boss was seized with “How was your weekend?” he asks. affordable dinner out. Try to their normal spending habits. repeated coughing fits. When extend the challenge until Labor pressed, he insisted his outbursts were simply a result of allergies. I “It was nice to have the day off,” I Day Weekend and then have a big I hope one of these will work for celebratory cookout for everyone you and your friends. Let me believed his repeated explanations say. who sticks to the rules. know which challenge you guys – until I began feeling rather sick My mother, ever the truth teller, decide to do and how it goes! myself. 2. 30 or 60 day challenge. This one Good luck, Bella! informs the doctor that in fact my holiday was terrible due to the sinus can be fun, daunting, and exciting. Upon my return, I visit Patient Pick a certain amount of money to infection. Taylor Kovar - Family Man. First. be set aside each day, then Wealth Manager. Author. everyone has to meet that goal and Speaker. Serial Entrepreneur. The nurse kindly walks me to my “Are you being treated?” he asks. “Yes,” I answer, detailing the story prove it at the end of the Travel Lover. Chick-Fil-A room. “The doctor will be in challenge. That means on a day I am sharing now. Fanatic. Kovar is the CEO and shortly.” you don’t hit your mark, you can founder of Kovar Capital Management LLC of Lufkin, After waiting more than two and a “Would you allow me to treat your make up for it by saving double the next day. It can be $1 or $10 sinus infection?” Texas. half hours, the doctor finally appears. No apology for the wait, barely even a hello. She begins the He prescribes an antibiotic called appointment by asking, “Why are Augmentin – for those of you who were wondering, apparently this is you here?” the best treatment for any sinus related maladies. I refrain from acting on my first instinct - telling her I came for the Howe Community The plastic surgeon’s preferred wait. Library will begin antidote does the trick. Within a summer hours on day, my infection clears right up. I list my symptoms to the doctor. Tuesday, May 29, after Thankfully, my frequent doctor’s Congestion, fever, earache, sore throat, runny nose. I quickly self- visits were completely covered by the holiday weekend. We insurance, ensuring that I would not will be open every diagnose, telling her these Monday through Friday have to shoulder an unwanted symptoms all amount to a sinus from 9am to 5pm and on infection. She prescribes Z-PaK, an financial burden due to the Saturdays from 9 until 3. incompetence of our medical antibiotic doctor’s must receive some sort of kickback from since system. Leaving me with a sense of We have LOTS of new every time I get sick they suggest newfound compassion for those the same remedy. Usually I desist; without access to health insurance, books and DVDs, AND our renovation is as well as those forced to visit yet, my sickly state prevents me ALMOST finished! doctor’s far more inadequate than from thinking clearly enough to Come on by and see us! my own. proffer a differing suggestion. Under pressure, I cave, eager to Even more importantly, I learned begin feeling the relief only an antibiotic can provide in situations that in 21st century America, it is not enough for patients to engage in such as these. the act of self-diagnosing. They also must have on hand a list of I start feeling better, only to feel much worse within a week’s time. suggested medications to present to a doctor. Unless you take the easy A subsequent visit is required to procure a different antibiotic. This way out by scheduling an appointment with your plastic time? Keflex. Four days later, I surgeon instead. feel even sicker, my swollen

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