It’s been a while since I’ve done a coffee date style of post, so grab your warm beverage of choice (brewed coffee with Aldi’s SF vanilla creamer or a triple venti skinny vanilla latte with no foam for me if I am splurging) and settle in…
If we were having coffee today…
- I’d ask if you perhaps clicked over here from SHU’s newsletter which highlighted my usage of shouldless days to stay sane in this busy season of life. If you are confused about what that means, I’d refer you to this post which details a shouldless day from November! And then I’d tell you that I have one on Thursday that I am so looking forward to. I have a haircut and color scheduled but besides that I will probably go for a run, read and maybe treat myself to lunch.
- I’d tell you how frustrated I am with my RA right now. I’d probably show you the stupid flare in the knuckle of my right pointer finger that won’t go away. And then I’d tell you how in the span of a day I was told by the pharmacy that I needed to pay $1,067 before they could fill my injection Rx but then later that day the drug company called to tell me I had exhausted my copay assistance so had an outstanding balance of $3k plus. I have yet to fully deal with this and get to the bottom of it because work has been busy and the one time I tried to fix it, I was transferred twice but had to hang up while on hold since I had a call starting at work. This is one challenge of being on weekly injections that cost about $1k week. It will all get worked out and I should not owe $3k+ but wow it is a pain dealing with all the various parties from drug companies to copay assistance to insurance companies and so on.
- I’d tell you how happy I am to be home this week after 4 weeks straight of travel. The ping ponging from one time zone to the next really wears on me. I go to Dallas next week Mon-Wed and then I only travel once/month in June or July (I thought I might not travel in June but have a NYC trip now which shouldn’t be too bad). Travel is part of my job so I try not to complain but it does put a strain on other areas of my life.
- I’d tell you how much I enjoyed seeing ‘A Year with Frog and Toad’ at our children’s theater on Saturday. The boys liked it, too - especially Paul. We had to skip nap to attend and wow Taco is not ready to drop his nap.
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| The best photo I could get of the 2 of them. The cookie story is one of my faves! |
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| So. Tired. |
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| My favorite kind of running weather! Sunshine and no wind. This is the lake I run around. |
First, I LOVE that purple colour on you. It looks amazing. That lake is gorgeous. What a nice running route and so much nicer when the weather cooperates.
ReplyDeleteParenting is exhausting and work is exhausting and life is exhausting. I am SO glad you have a shouldless day lined up.
What a nightmare about the RA injection. Argh. It's just a logistical and emotional pain on top of literal pain. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
Hope this week has lots of bright moments.
I feel like you know all my news? Just keepin' on keepin' on...
Oof, this sounds really hard, Lisa! i mean dealing with RA is hard enough, but then all the insurance BS on top of it??? It's not like you have a lot of extra energy to spend on things like that.
ReplyDeleteWell- I'm very glad you have your shouldless day on Thursday! I'll be thinking about you on that day. And I'm glad your travel calms down (a little bit?) for the summer. Hang in there!
I am so glad your weather is getting better. That can make a rough day much more palatable! Aside from that, insurance is a pain and I hate dealing with that stuff. I hope that your next call goes more easily. I hate waiting on hold and then getting dropped or having to leave!
ReplyDeleteI would tell you that I had a fun time in Vancouver with my Dad, that yesterday I got rained on a lot which was not fun, and that today I sign docs for my house closing (May 10), which will be such a relief to get behind me!
Lisa, your point about having very little margin these days really hits home. You are doing SUCH a great job, truly, and it is no wonder that you are worn a little thin. I admire you so much for everything you are juggling and I know you are kicking ass at all of it. Losing one's cool occasionally is a good learning experience for the kids, too, because they get to see that people have feelings.
ReplyDeleteThe insurance stuff is so infuriating. And I'm really sorry you are having such a frustrating flare.
That is such a great photo of you, and I love that you are having beautiful weather. Even if it's not curative, sunshine sure helps!
Ahhh that medication bill thing sounds so frustrating. We have had our share of serious annoyances getting a recurring med filled for one of the boys that was constantly on shortage and it created all these extra hoops to jump through. We ended up switching pharmacies which ended up helping the overall situation (this other one is just better to work with/ more responsive etc than old pharmacy) BUT has more limited hours and is farther from home. And we have to go through this every month to refill- it's just a hassle that involves multiple steps every time. I shouldn't complain as the shortage has generally settled down and things have been smoother, but it's still so annoying to even have to fill it every month and go through it all. Pre-shortage we used to be able to get 90 day supply but it's still considered on shortage so they max us out at 30 days. Anyway, I feel you.
ReplyDeleteAnd this weather has been glorious!! I am so relieved. This spring was so yucky so much of the time.
money related stress really gets me, so I can imagine how annoying and stressful can be to have to make those calls to get the reimbursement/approval for your needed injections. I'm really impressed how cool you are about your RA condition, which comes and goes often.
ReplyDeleteJet setting sounds fun but not really. My bestie from Jakarta who moved to DC came this week and I can see how the frequent travel and change of time zones took a toll on him. I can do that once a while but can't do it for long as my body freaks out.
I'll be traveling for work frequently for the next two months, I'm looking forward to them because I know it will be temporary and I have summer travel planned with the family.
I need to back up and read a few posts. My video project is a time suck to the Nth degree. I'm sorry about the RA situation. That sounds so awful and time consuming and exhausting. The last few times I've needed refills on my anti-inflammatory meds I've had to call the doctor office because they keep failing to call the RX in with refills. I'm not due to see the doc again until like August, so what's the deal?
ReplyDeleteI love this weather for running. I'm envious that you have a beautiful lake to run around.
OMG - I used to love taking the kids to plays when they were really little. We saw Peter Pan at a children's theater on Navy Pier when I only had about 3 kids and it was so much fun. I'm in camp-Taco - naps are necessary most days. ;)
I'm glad your travel sounds somewhat scaled back in June and July. I hope your flare up settled the heck down soon. Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I lost my patience with the kids back in the day . . . well, let's just say I was not always the mom I wanted to be but it happens.
Ugh ugh ugh on the insurance situation. It's not bad enough that you have RA, you have to deal with the price tag of your injections and getting your insurance to do what they are supposed to do on top of that. BOO!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYour last books post gave me a few ideas for the TBR so I can't wait to hear what you're reading now.
Frog and Toad All Year....it's been awhile, but does that book have the ice cream, where it falls all over Toad's face (or is it Frog's face?) and he gets covered in sticks and leaves and such and frightens the other one? My daughter used to laugh SO HARD at that one, the picture with the ice cream hitting his eyeball is priceless.
ReplyDeleteStories like the one about your RA meds just make me angry. I am glad that the drug companies make these drugs, but the amount they charge is INSANE. $1,000 a WEEK? Who can afford that? I'm sure it will all work out with the insurance company and you won't end up owing, but there isn't a single step in the process that wouldn't piss me off.
I also have RA, and when I was on steroids for it, I was lucky that it didn't give me rage issues. I did have a ton of energy and didn't sleep well, though. My mother in law was on prednisone for awhile and was SO ANGRY about EVERYTHING. I had to remind my husband: 1. She's in pain. 2. She's on steroids. Just knowing that helped him to let it go. It's no fun when you lose your temper with your kids, though. I think it's OK to let them know that you have feelings too, though, which will help them with theirs.
Oof, I'm glad you've got your shouldless day to look forward to. I'm mid lupus flare post-Covid, and it's the pits. Luckily I'm in the UK so my meds are free, and codeine is OTC.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend and I describe the situation in which you're overloaded and your schedule only works when everything goes perfectly as "no slack, no slack..."
I'm looking ahead to next week and oof, I'm fairly extroverted but I've got a social work event 4/5 days.
Wishing you a wonderful "shouldless" day! You deserve it so much!
ReplyDeleteI hope you gain some margin back - everything on your plate all sounds so exhausting, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.
Yay for kids at the theatre! I didn't know when to expect when we took our kids a while back to see Frog and Toad, and I ended up loving it as much as they did - it's such a funny, charming, heartfelt show. The snail with the mail! The shoe and the clock! The birds!
I made taking a day off work with nothing to do as part of my quarterly goals this quarter as inspired by you. I don't know if I'll be able to do it, but I was sorely tempted to just call in this morning and pretend work didn't exist.
ReplyDeleteHealth insurance makes me SO MAD. Here you are deferring care! And that's the exact opposite of what should be happening!!
How is the straps of your car seat so clean???? teach my kids please. Ours are gross.
ReplyDeleteIf you and I were to have coffee, I'd share that I feeling a bit down. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm just done with the school year and need to go on vacation. Maybe I have not been sleeping well. Not sure but I need to do something to get over myself. I'll also share that Steven King book took off- but I'm already 50% in lol I'll finish it.
I am so sorry about your RA flare... but even more frustrated about the insurance situation. You'd think they'd have it figured out by now and I hate that you have to spend time sorting this out for them. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI remember your "shouldless days" and I think they're brilliant.
Gosh, that whole insurance debacle sounds like a nightmare! Ugh. Not only do you have to deal with a painful flare, but also this insurance mess. I hope you can get it straightened out without too much difficulty.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you scheduled a shouldless day for yourself! Nobody needs to "earn" these kinds of days, but if they did, you most certainly earned yours!