A Dallas Doctor Discovers the Power of the Pen

Most young children don't have a clue about what they're going to do with their lives. But Rob Tenery did.

At the age of 5, he started tagging along with his father, a doctor in Waxahachie, Texas, as he made his rounds. By age 7, Tenery was spending more and more time in the laboratory with his father, and knew he was born to be a doctor.

Coming from a medically-oriented family, he says, "We talked medicine—it was our second language. The only career I ever really thought about seriously was medicine."

By observing and following his father (and grandfather, who started practicing medicine in 1909), Tenery learned that being a doctor involves much more than just what you know. It's about the doctor-patient relationship.

"My father and grandfather always put the interests of their patients ahead of their own," Tenery says. "It had little to do with what they received in return. My father's patients always came first, and his day was never over until the last patient's concerns were resolved."

He also learned that the smartest doctors aren't necessarily the best doctors. "It's the doctors who care about their patients, and the doctors who know their limitations, who are the best doctors."

"The essence of what it means to be a physician—a true physician—is part science, part art," Tenery says. "The science comes from medical school and subsequent training. The art, that sense of conviction and compassion, comes from within and is learned at the bedside of our patients and through the example of physicians of the past who were called to this noble profession."

Dr. Tenery believes the doctor-patient relationship is still personal, regardless of advancing technology and health-care reform. The physician's goal is to care for and about the patient and his family in a manner that is promoting healing and honoring the profession as a whole. "Physicians should never give their patients a reason to question the trust they have put in them," he says.

Getting Creative

Tenery graduated from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1968 and started his own practice in 1974. After his ophthalmology residency at Southwestern Medical School, he completed a fellowship in corneal transplants and diseases of the eye in San Antonio. Then Tenery began a two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

In 1984 he started writing a monthly column for the Dallas Medical Journal, and then from 1990 to 1998, he wrote one for the American Medical News. Through his experience as a columnist, he discovered a passion for writing.

At the prompting of his wife, Janet, with whom he had shared the lessons learned from his father and grandfather, Tenery began writing them down. Within five years, he completed the manuscript for Dr. Mayo's Boy: A Century of American Medicine. The book was published by Brown Books Publishing Group in January 2009.

While writing the book, Tenery discovered it was more than just a family history. The manuscript hit on a more universal topic—how health care has changed in the past century. It's a timely subject as our country grapples with health-care reform.

Finding Fulfillment

In some ways, medicine and writing are similar, says Tenery, in that in both cases, you want to be satisfied with the outcome—whether it's helping a patient get well, or successfully writing the story you always wanted to tell.

That's why, at least for now, he's finding fulfillment in both professions. He gets up early in the morning and writes for a few hours before he starts seeing patients at 8:00.

To date, he has completed a total of five manuscripts—two of which are political thrillers. So once Dr. Mayo's Boy runs its course, he'll polish up another manuscript. As he says, "I have plenty of projects ahead of me."

While he continues to see the field of medicine changing at a breakneck speed, Tenery thinks that if young people feel a calling to medicine, they should follow that calling.

"I still feel like being able to take care of patients is the most important and fulfilling career that we could choose. And I still think we should think of it as a calling, as opposed to a vocation—more about what we do for people than what we get for what we do for people. There's a big difference."

Besides writing and practicing medicine, he also enjoys spending time with his family at his vacation home in Santa Fe, N.M.

Returning from their most recent trip, Dr. Tenery became a patient himself. Surviving cardiac surgery on a Monday, and neurosurgery on the following Saturday, his experience confirmed to him that medicine is "a group effort with a team of physicians, nurses, technicians, and family," he says, "with God's hand guiding the way." He also came to appreciate that patients are just that. "Anytime we begin to think of patients as customers, we lose the proper perspective."

To contact Dr. Tenery and learn more about his book, go to www.robtenerymd.com.

Five Essential Retirement Questions

Whether you're 25 or 55, it's important to make sure you're doing everything you can to prepare for retirement. To start, you can ask yourself these five questions:

1. What lifestyle do I want?

   Picture your retirement. Will you work part-time? Travel? Help family members pay for college tuition? Estimate these costs with your basic living expenses to arrive at your estimated annual costs per year.

2. What will my health-care expenses be?

   Medicare pays only 55 percent of health-care costs for people age 65 and older.¹ Health care can eat up nearly 25 percent of a retiree's income.² Talk to your financial advisor about how to estimate for future health-care needs and costs, including insurance premiums, office visits, and Medicare.

3. Where will my income come from?

   Evaluate all of your potential retirement-income sources—including pensions, annuity payments, Social Security benefits, IRAs, and other savings—to arrive at a rough total of what your income may be at retirement.

4. Can I save even more?

   Consider whether you're contributing the maximum allowable for employer-sponsored retirement plans—amounts were increased to $15,500 annually as of 2007. If you're 50 and older, you may be able to save even more.

5. How will I manage my retirement income?

   Be sure to balance earnings from savings and investments (those outside of a tax-sheltered plan) against what you hope to withdraw from your assets each year.

A financial advisor can help you determine the answers to these questions. He or she can also help you make sure your bases are covered, and that you're investing wisely, so you can have the kind of retirement you want and deserve.

¹ U.S. Government Accountability Office, Federal Trustees of the Medical Program, 2006, as reported by Prudential Financial. www.prudential.com.

² International Longevity Center, New York City, AARP, 2005, as reported by Prudential Financial. www.prudential.com.

Add Extra Protection with Personal Accident Insurance

Many physicians know the advantages of having life and long-term disability insurance—but what about personal accident insurance?

Personal accident insurance pays benefits to both you and your beneficiaries if you're permanently and totally disabled. If a covered accident results in your total and permanent disability, you receive 100 percent of your coverage amount. If you die in a covered accident, your beneficiaries receive 100 percent of your coverage amount as a death benefit.

Personal accident insurance also includes other helpful benefits that give concrete assistance to your survivors for certain situations. These include:

1. Spouse tuition-reimbursement benefit—helps your spouse transition back into the workplace by covering the cost of job-training programs.
2. Child day-care benefit—helps cover day-care expenses for children under age 7 if you or your spouse die in a covered accident.
3. Child tuition-reimbursement benefit—helps your older children pay college, university, or trade-school tuition.

Personal accident insurance is a great way to add some extra protection just in case the unexpected happens. Talk to a TMAIT advisor today to find out more.

Medicare Part D Annual Enrollment Starts November 15

If you have health-care coverage through Medicare, don't forget the annual enrollment for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (also known as Part D) begins Nov. 15 and runs through Dec. 31. During this time, you may change prescription-drug plans, change Medicare Advantage plans, return to the original Medicare plan, or enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan for the first time. Enrollment changes take effect Jan. 1.

To review your current plan, compare all of the prescription-drug plans, and to enroll, go to www.medicare.gov. If you need additional assistance, be sure to contact a TMAIT advisor.