I went from fine to miserable in the course of an afternoon. The discomfort turned a haircut into an endurance test and by the time I arrived home I was ready for relief. I had researched my symptoms while waiting at the salon and if I was right about the diagnosis, I would need an antibiotic to rid myself of the problem. With Urgent Care a 20 minute drive and an unknown wait-to-be-seen away, The Mister urged me to try Dr. on Demand, an app he had recently used to help with his several-times-a-year bout with poison ivy.

The call lasted three minutes and fifteen seconds. The doctor listened as I described my symptoms and agreed that I was more than likely suffering from a UTI. He prescribed an antibiotic, instructed me to take it twice a day for five days and said it would probably be ready at my pharmacy in about an hour.

Forty-five minutes and $6 later, I had my prescription in hand. I took the first pill before bed, greatly concerned with how to get through a day of teaching, especially during COVID times when I am not in my own classroom all day, but instead moving from room to room, eating lunch with the students and with very little time to use a restroom.

By morning, however, I felt 95% better. 95%. After just one little pill. Just one.

I had said many prayers that day and even that night when I took the first pill, but the following morning, when I was amazed at the speed of relief, I said another. Knowing from my research how common UTI’s are, and how they will not go away unless treated, and that they can develop into far worse issues, I added more gratitude to my prayer than I had originally felt.

Within hours of my first symptom, for just $6 and the time it took to make a three-minute phone call, I was cured. As I continued to take the rest of the medicine over the next five days I continued to marvel at how amazing the science, the research, and the development of pharmaceuticals such as this antibiotic are. But I found myself uncomfortable in a new way – uncomfortable knowing how many millions of people, mainly women, suffer through this very same thing, with no medical care available, no antibiotic a short drive away. No relief in sight. Ever. Simple, fast, curable and cheap aren’t any part of the vocabulary of millions when it comes to health care.

It makes me wonder why I should be so fortunate. Just because of the job I have? Just because of where I live? We should only provide relief to those who can pay for it, or those who happen to live in America? That doesn’t sit well with me at all.

So, while I will count my blessings today that I feel much better, in my soul, I do not feel better at all. We should all be blessed by such a little thing.