Beaverton Community Advantage Guide

Is Bankruptcy Right For You?By George Hoselton, Attorney

If you are like many Americans you may be living in a nightmare of calls from creditors and mailboxes overfl owing with collection notices. Everyone deserves a second chance. Fortunately, the laws of the United States give people the opportunity to start over by wiping away their debts.

If you fi nd yourself in an increasingly precarious fi nancial position, you may think of fi ling for bankruptcy protection. Give us a call and come meet with us, you don’t need anything when you fi rst come in, and we can answer your questions. How do you know if this is really the best way for you to get back on an even footing? What paperwork will you need for us to help you?

While DIY is fairly popular in many things, fi ling for bankruptcy protection is best left to those who know what they’re doing -- an attorney concentrating his practice on bankruptcy. We do not charge for an initial consultation. The reason is that we fi nd value in encouraging people to talk about their situations and feel comfortable before making any decisions about the best path to a fi nancial fresh start.

Again, you DON’T need to bring anything with you the fi rst visit. BUT, if you are sure that bankruptcy is the next step for you and you’d like to get started with your fi rst appointment there are a few things you’ll want to do.

1. Gather your bills and pay stubsPut all your personal fi nancial documents into two stacks. In one stack, compile all your income documents, whether paystubs or cancelled checks or other evidence of what you’ve earned over the last six months. If you have only one employer, that’s easy. However, ALL income is counted here, so be sure you have all the information you would have to declare on your tax return at the end of the year. Be sure to include any rental income.On the other side of the table, sort your bills by category for the same 6-month span: all taxes; mortgage/rent/utility bills; medical expenses; credit card, student loans or other unsecured bills; car loans or secured bills; and any miscellaneous debt. And don’t worry about the size of this stack. It’s almost impossible to present us with too much data. We prefer to have more than less.

2. Get a copy of your credit reportYou can get a copy of your credit report free once a year. Many of our clients go to annualcreditreport.com to download their reports. If you’ve used your free report for the year, we can obtain it for a nominal fee.

3. Make a list of your property, both real estate and personal effectsNow, sit back and take stock of your assets. Items to consider here are real estate, vehicles, household goods, stocks, jewelry, guns, artwork, retirement accounts, insurance and bank accounts.

Finally, give us a call to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your options. The hardest step in the process is the fi rst one, but together we can help you chart a new path to your fi nancial future.

Around Your Community > > >L O C A L F U N I D I N I N G I S H O P S I V A C A T I O N S P O T S

R11© 2012 For Advertising inFormAtion CAll 503.570.3404


Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and noticed your hand sleeping to the point where you had to get out of bed and shake or flick your fingers to alleviate the numbness? If the numbness was primarily on the thumb-side

half of your hand, it may have been carpal tunnel syndrome that woke you up. So, the question is, why is it such an issue at night?

To properly answer this question, let’s get familiar with the anatomy of the wrist. There are 2 bones that make up the forearm – the ulna (on the pinky side) and the radius (on the thumb side). Just beyond that, there are two rows of four bones each called the carpal bones for a total of 8 small bones that make up the wrist joint. These carpal bones are arranged in a horseshoe or tunnel shape. When you look down at your wrist and wiggle your fingers quickly, you can see all the movement that occurs on the palm side of the wrist. That’s a lot of movement! You can also see the muscles on the upper half of the forearm moving rapidly as the fingers wiggle.

There are 9 muscle tendons that travel through the carpal tunnel, as well as some blood vessels and most important, the median nerve sits on top of all those moving tendons. Just beneath the floor of the tunnel is a ligament called the transverse carpal ligament. The tendons inside the tunnel are surrounded by lubricating sheaths that make it easier for the tendons to slide back and forth as we wiggle our fingers, grip to open a jar, type on a computer, play a musical instrument, or so on. Without the tendon sheaths, the friction between the rubbing tendons would quickly build up heat, resulting in swelling, pain and numbness. However, in spite of the lubricating function of the sheaths, when we work our fingers and hands too much, swelling and inflammation does occur.

So, why do we have numbness at night when we aren’t working, gripping and moving our fingers repetitively? The answer lies in how we sleep. Since we are asleep, we cannot control where we position our hands and wrists. Most of us curl up in a ball and tuck our hands under our chin or someplace cozy. Normally, when we bend our wrists, the pressure inside the carpal tunnel doubles. However, a carpal tunnel patient already has a higher level of pressure in their wrist. So, when a carpal tunnel patient bends their wrist in the exact same way, the pressure goes up even more – that is, 3, 4, 5, or more times than a normal person without their wrist bent. That is why a wrist “cock-up” splint works so well at night! It keeps the wrist straight so we can’t bend it. Often, this allows the CTS patient to sleep through the night instead of waking up 2, 3, or more times with numbness, tingling, and/or pain on the thumb half of the hand.

We realize you have a choice in who you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend or family member require care for CTS, we would be honored to render our services.

YOU MAY BE A CANDIDATE FOR CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME! FOR A

FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION CALL (503) 644-4664

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Sleeping

Health Corner Access Health Centers Chiropractic

Beaverton Community Advantage Guide

Documents

Transcript of Beaverton Community Advantage Guide