Empty Nest - June 2023

Men have emotion regulation needs, too

Brought to you by - Jason Howard, Licensed Professional Counselor at Summit Counseling Center

As a male therapist, I’m constantly surprised by my own hesitancy to ask for help. I know the benefits of regulating my emotions and opening up to someone I trust, but I also know the challenges men face when it comes to seeking therapy. Many men have grown up under pressure to suppress emotions and maintain a tough exterior. Be vulnerable? Not today! Unfortunately, this leads many men to suppress valid thoughts and emotions, missing out on greater satisfaction in our work, relationships, and life.

Here are some helpful strategies to regulate emotions:

1. Develop emotional awareness. Recognize tense shoulders, shaky legs, and tiredness as your emotions giving you a heads up. Next, identify your main emotional triggers, like work stress or financial problems, to know why your body is sounding an alarm.

2. Once aware, learn strategies to regulate the emotion. In the work I do with men, we process what the emotional alarms communicate and determine effective responses. Men tell me they feel more empowered and less stress when they can observe the anger or fear start in then body, and then check the facts and choose their response. Responding effectively versus just reacting is both tough and doable.

3. Create healthy coping mechanisms. It’s amazing the benefits I see in my office from straightforward actions like addressing sleep issues, drinking water, eating well, and exercising. In fact, regular exercise has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to reduce anxiety and depression and improve mood in men.

I know it takes courage to seek help, and the benefits of improved mental health and wellbeing are well worth it. Learn more about Summit and schedule an appointment by visiting www.summitcounseling.org.

Flying free of skin cancer

Brought

to You by -

Brent Taylor, MD, Premiere Dermatology and Mohs Surgery of Atlanta

In the last month, two airline pilots have come to see me for suspicious spots that proved to be invasive malignant melanomas. As an instrument-rated recreational pilot myself, I sympathize and understand that the stakes involved for commercial pilots are not only health and lifespan but also work and livelihood. Pilots are sometimes wary of physicians, but it is critically important for pilots and non-pilots alike to know that early diagnosis is the best way to keep your wings and your life.

The FAA is very strict with pilots’ health. Regular health examinations with an FAA flight examiner are required of all pilots. For pilots over the age of 40 acting as “pilot in command” of a commercial airline flight, a medical certificate must be renewed every 6 months by means of a thorough flight physical. The running joke among physicians who take care of pilots is that non-pilots come in with a list of ten maladies and complaints whereas pilots respond to every question about possible illnesses with single word answers ranging from “nope” to “never.” Most jokes have a grain of truth. Pilots do not want an illness on their medical record that might result in an inability to fly.

Sometimes, you can make a case for someone trying to fix an illness without a physician’s help. For example, someone at the edge of type II diabetes might restore his or her own health with disciplined diet and exercise and be healthy by the time medical certificate renewal comes around.

Not so with melanoma. Don’t delay. Don’t try to fix it yourself. If a spot is changing, get that spot checked out! Melanoma continues to grow as long as it is left in place. The single most important feature of a melanoma is how deep it has grown. A melanoma that is less than 0.80mm is generally considered “good” with a low risk of having spread to other parts of the body.

The FAA draws the line in the sand for melanomas at 0.75mm. Melanomas

less than 0.75mm deep need only documentation of no clinical signs of metastatic disease and complete removal with clear and appropriate margins. Then, the flight examiner can issue the medical certificate to allow a pilot to keep on flying. This means that a simple excision by a dermatologist under local anesthesia for a shallow melanoma in almost all cases allows a pilot to keep his or her ability to fly. Melanomas deeper than 0.80 mm often require lymph node biopsies under general anesthesia, imaging such as MRI and/or PET/ CT scans. Even then, permission to fly is not guaranteed. Instead, all documents must be submitted to the FAA for consideration of permission to continue flying which is called “Special Issuance Authorization.” It wouldn’t be called “Special” if it were routine and for everyone.

Both pilots who came to me recently with melanomas had noticed the spot changing for a few months, and both cases had measured depths of 0.7mm. Talk about cutting it close! Just a little more growth and those pilots might have lost their medical certificate. Just as importantly, a little more growth would have pushed them into a higher risk category with a much higher chance that the melanomas could have spread.

In my practice, I have so far always been able to honor the policy that a patient who is worried about a single spot that is changing and could be a melanoma can be added onto my schedule within a day for a “spot check” even if my schedule is fully booked. We might not have time to complete a full body skin exam at an overbooked appointment, but I never want scheduling problems to be the reason that a melanoma diagnosis is delayed. Likewise, I typically work from 7am to 5pm but add on melanoma excisions at 6:30am or 5pm to make sure patients are treated as quickly as possible.

For so many reasons, people are afraid to go to the doctor, but in the case of dermatology, it is in one’s interest to seek care. Getting that suspicious or changing spot checked out should be a priority. Even if your job isn’t on the line, early detection of skin cancer can save your life.

your Summary of Benefits will allow you to unlock these additional resources.

The

guide

your Medicare Advantage Plan Benefits. Each calendar year, the insurance carrier will produce a new Summary of Benefits specific to your Medicare Plan. It’s important to keep around because it will lay out your costs when you use medical services such as doctors’ visits, hospital stays, MRIs, lab tests, and prescription drug costs.

In addition to medical and prescription drug costs, the Medicare Advantage Summary of Benefits outlines much more. Additional Benefits that will be addressed in the Summary of Benefits are:

• Dental, Vision, Hearing Aid Coverage

• Therapy Programs for Physical and Mental Health

• Allowance Cards for Over-The-Counter Items

• Reward Programs for Healthy Living

• Resources for Healthy Living

The above benefits are built into most Medicare Advantage Plans, but many go unused by beneficiaries. Reading through

The aim of these additional programs is to encourage better health, while saving a little money in the process. Every Medicare Advantage Plan will offer a variety of these benefits, so it’s important to tell your Medicare Insurance Agent which are most important to you.

I have recently met too many Medicare Advantage Plan Beneficiaries that were not previously aware they had Allowances and Reward Programs.

Review your Medicare Advantage Plan’s Summary of Benefits and stay informed!

If you need helping finding your SOB, visit our 2023 Summary of Benefits Webpage at www.SeniorSourceMedicare. com/2023-benefits-summaries. You’ll need your Plan ID Number, which can be found on the bottom right-hand corner of most Medicare Advantage ID Cards.

We work with all three Medicare Options; including Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Stand-Alone Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. If you need further assistance with finding your Medicare Advantage Summary of Benefits or need help finding a new plan, please

Vacation Property - How to save on probate

Brought to You by

- Michelle Wilson, Wilson Legal, PC

It’s vacation time and many of our readers are off to their favorite vacation spots. For many, that means heading to their beach houses or mountain cabins. You will enjoy the beach house while you are living then pass it to your kids. You have a will. You feel that things are buttoned up. It’s not. There’s a hidden expense in your plan that your kids will find after you die. What is it? Extra probate fees.

WILSON

You see, people with wills (or those without wills) must go through the probate process ($$$ + Time consuming) to have their executor approved before they can transfer ownership of the beach house to your kids or sell it. If the beach house is in a different state from the state you died in, then you have to go through the probate process twice. Yuck! You can avoid this outcome by using a revocable trust. With a revocable trust, your successor trustee calls the law firm to request an updated certificate of trust after the death certificate arrives and that’s all they need to transfer property or put it on the market. If you think this might be a great solution for your family, please give us a call.

The Exercise Coach: Revolutionizing personal fitness

Brought to you by - The Exercise Coach

- Alpharetta

Discover The Exercise Coach, a groundbreaking approach to fitness that promises to redefine your journey towards optimal health and wellbeing. The unique philosophy of The Exercise Coach is predicated on the idea that personal fitness isn’t a one-sizefits-all endeavor, but rather, a bespoke journey unique to each individual.

At The Exercise Coach, we believe in the power of quality over quantity. Diverging from conventional wisdom that insists on hours of grueling exercise, we embrace a smarter, science-backed approach that leverages technology to deliver effective, time-efficient workouts tailored to your specific needs.

Our workouts, packed into just 20 minutes, twice a week, are created using a data-driven strategy, incorporating insights from exercise science, physiology, and human performance. Our patented Exerbotics technology

ensures that each routine is personalized, dynamically adapting to your progress and challenging you to grow stronger, faster, and fitter in less time.

The Exercise Coach fosters an atmosphere of inclusion and personal attention. Our team of dedicated coaches guide you every step of the way, offering invaluable insights, motivation, and a touch of inspiration. We work in small, private studios, which guarantees an intimate and personal workout experience free from the distractions and discomforts of crowded gyms.

What truly sets The Exercise Coach apart is our focus on effectiveness and efficiency, allowing you to achieve more in less time. Whether you are a fitness enthusiast seeking a new challenge or a busy professional struggling to find time for exercise, The Exercise Coach is a beacon of change and the future of fitness.

Join us at The Exercise Coach, and experience the transformative power of smart, personalized exercise.

Use That SOB!

Brought to you by- Jay Looft, Senior Source Medicare

No, I don’t mean that kind of SOB. I’m talking about the Medicare Advantage Summary of Benefits (SOB).

The SOB is the guide to your Medicare Advantage Plan Benefits. Each calendar year, the insurance carrier will produce a new Summary of Benefits specific to your Medicare Plan. It’s important to keep around because it will lay out your costs when you use medical services such as doctors’ visits, hospital stays, MRIs, lab tests, and prescription drug costs.

In addition to medical and prescription drug costs, the Medicare Advantage Summary of Benefits outlines much more. Additional Benefits that will be addressed in the Summary of Benefits are:

• Dental, Vision, Hearing Aid Coverage

• Therapy Programs For Physical and Mental Health

• Allowance Cards for Over-TheCounter Items

• Reward Programs for Healthy Living

• Resources for Healthy Living

The above benefits are built into most Medicare Advantage Plans, but many go unused by beneficiaries. Reading through

your Summary of Benefits will allow you to unlock these additional resources.

The aim of these additional programs is to encourage better health, while saving a little money in the process. Every Medicare Advantage Plan will offer a variety of these benefits, so it’s important to tell your Medicare Insurance Agent which are the most important to you.

I have recently met too many Medicare Advantage Plan Beneficiaries that were not previously aware they had Allowances and Reward Programs.

Review your Medicare Advantage Plan’s Summary of Benefits and stay informed!

If you need helping finding your SOB, visit our 2023 Summary of Benefits Webpage at www.SeniorSourceMedicare. com/2023-benefits-summaries. You’ll need your Plan ID Number, which can be found on the bottom right-hand corner of most Medicare Advantage ID Cards.

We work with all three Medicare Options; including Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Stand-Alone Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. If you need further assistance with finding your Medicare Advantage Summary of Benefits or need help finding a new plan, please give me a call today at (770) 913-6464 or online at www.SeniorSourceMedicare.com