Medical Misadventures

I was not fazed so much by the market crash last Friday nor the lockdown regulations that forced me to push this weekend's lesson online. I've had a spate of bad luck lately with my health.

It started a week ago when I had pain on the lower right side of my abdomen. My first visit to the GP was unable to detect any problems and I was given some painkillers. That cost me about $50.

Then after doing some googling of my own, I thought that I may be developing appendicitis. It was logical to me then because it was on the same side as my appendix. The pain was quite sharp at night so it was similar to what websites say. I became worried that a GP would not detect anything again so I went to a private hospital to eliminate the possibility that my appendix is about to explode. This was expensive. A consultation was $100 but the lower pelvic scan cost me $1,000 but Medisave will reimburse part of it. Strangely, the scan said I was just fine.

My pain persisted, and blisters started to appear on the right side of my belly so I went to the GP again to get a cream. At that time I thought they were insect bites.

Sadly for me, they were not insect bites. I developed shingles, something that normally happened to older men. My immune system became so weak, my chickenpox came back. Shingles treatment was not expensive. It was $80.

It's been 6 days since I was on antivirals so I've more or less recovered. 

An interesting point to note is that I'm in my 40s and my shingles came two weeks after my second vaccination jab. Medical reports say there is not causation but about six women in Israel developed shingles as well after their vaccinations. 

I don't see any moral in this. 

I regret my paranoia, I paid for a $1,000 test which came back negative. 

But do I really want the test to come back positive? 

Getting my appendix removed would cost me $18k and the loss of my revenues for this week's class. This was unthinkable given the number of man-hours of support my partners have put up to make the class a reality.

Maybe this is a taste of what is to come in my 50s where I have to juggle more medical mishaps as I get older. I would never forget the story that was told to me about finance guru Dennis Ng who died while conducting a class preview. That can happen to me as well.

It's a busy week ahead and my shingles have been so painful, I need some cheering up. 

This blog will resume next week after my class. 

( Pic was taken from the Internet, my case was very mild given that I threw so much money after it. )