Posted by Maureen Petron -- Last week, my husband was stung by a bee. 
Big, big husband v. little, little bee. But the bee won.
Thankfully, my husband did not have a dramatic allergic reaction -- no difficulty breathing, no hives, no nausea. But he did have quite a local reaction of swelling, sensitivity, and ultimately, a skin infection from the sting.
The bee sting happened on Thursday afternoon, so we weren't really worried about it for the first 24 hours or so -- the swelling just seemed normal. But as Saturday morning rolled around, we worried it might be something more.
And what are you supposed to do on a Saturday or Sunday when you want medical care? Our doctor's office was closed, and this was not big enough for the emergency room.
It was, instead, a perfect opportunity to call TelaDoc -- a free benefit to NASE Gold and Premier members. TelaDoc is a service that puts you on the phone with physicians who can listen to your symptoms, recommend treatment, help you determine if you should seek immediate medical care, and, when appropriate, prescribe medicine.
On Saturday morning, the doctor on the phone diagnosed the infection and called in a script for anti-biotics to our local pharmacy. It saved us from worry, saved the infection from getting worse, saved us from spending our Saturday trying to find an open doctor's office, and saved us the money of going into a doctor's office for a minor aliment.
Our NASE Membership saved us, too, since the TelaDoc benefit is free to me as a Gold member, and all my family.
(Go ahead, take that with the grain of salt, since I am on staff here. But, really, I had a lot planned to do on Saturday, and dealing with a bee sting was not one of them.)
If you're an NASE Gold or Premier Member, learn more about your TelaDoc benefit. Log into your NASE Member account to get the TelaDoc access information.
This is important!! You need to register with TelaDoc online or over the phone first, before you call them with a medical issue. This only takes a few minutes -- set up a profile with your information, and every member of your family. This is common sense, so the TelaDoc doctors know something about you when you call. But it's also useful -- you can use TelaDoc when you're traveling, or not near a computer. Having a profile set up with them lets them search your account for all the information they need, immediately.
If you are not an NASE Gold or Premier Member, consider changing your membership, just for this benefit. The doctor's office savings alone makes up for the membership cost.
And as my final PSA -- watch out for those bees. They may look small, but they pack quite a punch.