Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Time for an Update - and a Promise

I've been neglectful of you lately blog. I'm very sorry. I've been thoroughly stressed out and not coping with it very well. I promise to do better. Well... try to do better anyway.

I do have good news though! The Mazda was indeed a cheap repair. Well, relatively cheap. Came out to $204.65. Apparently our transaxle had wiggled loose and let all of our transmission fluid drain. Good thing I had it towed to the mechanic. So our marvelous mechanic, whom I found by calling Oil Can Henry's and practically crying "Please help me! My car won't shift above second and we don't know a mechanic in this area," well, he replaced the transaxle and seals and refilled our transmission with fluid and Voila! It runs and shifts again. Yay! Plus, he noticed our brakes were very touchy, so he pulled those apart and cleaned them and now we have good, not overly touchy brakes. Hooray!! I like him. He's my favorite. Especially because they didn't actually charge us full price. They gave us a discount since we had to pay for labor and parts. Need a good mechanic in Lebanon? I now swear by Central Auto.

Now I'm just bracing for Thursday. Thursday around 8 a.m. I have to go to the doctor to have another test run, possibly two, then at 10 a.m. I have to have both Jereme to the dentist and the Mazda back to the shop (the timing belt needs replaced, and apparently the water pump). It'll be a very busy morning. I'm hoping Jereme doesn't need his medication on Thursday so we can drop the Mazda off on the way to the dentist and I'll just wait with him at the dentist. Please God. If that won't work then it's going to get a lot more complicated... Then after the hectic morning, we get to relax and go enjoy Jereme's Valentine's Day gift from me. I scheduled a private tour and wine tasting at 2 p.m. He's always wanted to go to a wine tasting so I decided to surprise him with it. Sunday I gave him a little homemade card telling him his surprise. He's excited.

For today, however, I'm being completely lazy. I should be doing yard work because I still need to finish weeding the flower beds and mow, but my right arm is still rather useless. That's my penalty for trying to avoid taking my anxiety medication I suppose. The muscles in my back all knot so I lose the full range of motion in my arm for a day or so. Although it would probably help if I actually put a heating pad on it... I really should do that. Maybe I'll do that now...mmm...and curl up with Titan and that show Jereme got me hooked on. Ooo...and the truffles I got for Valentine's. What a good way to wile away an afternoon and relax. I think I'll go do that. So long for now.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Thank God for Insurance

So for those who don't know, Jereme has these horrible debilitating migraines. He and his doctor have been working for ages now to find a medication that works and prevents them. It all started because his migraines became a daily occurrence instead of a rarity. He finally stopped telling me when he had them because I worry.

Anyway, back to today's shocker. Jereme's doctor had him try several different drugs, and listened to my hysterical rants (given through Jereme) when they weren't covered by our insurance, and recently switched him onto Topamax because his mom and sister are on it and it seems to be working for them. We fought with the insurance company a while back when the doctor tried to put him on a prescription that was over $100 per refill and insurance refused to cover it (and it was a generic!! the name brand was over $600 per refill). Well, obviously the first time the Topamax prescription was filled and picked up, I'm not the one who picked it up because to my surprise today when I picked up the refill, insurance paid over $250 for the prescription!! We paid $10.00. Thank God.

So our crazy insurance company won't pay $100 for one generic prescription, but they'll pay $250 for another. Who makes up this crazy system? Have to say though, at least they paid it and not us. Otherwise the doctor might need to go have her hearing checked after I yelled some more.

Now I just have to figure out why insurance isn't paying their share of one of Jereme's allergy medications when I'm almost positive they did in the past. Crazy insurance.

Oh by the way, anyone know a good mechanic in Lebanon? We went to Jennifer and Dane's for dinner tonight and had to turn around on the way there because the Mazda won't shift above second gear. So I have to find a mechanic tomorrow (on my birthday) to look at it and figure out what's going on. Hopefully, (please God) it'll be something stupid (i.e. cheap) and that'll be it. Cross your fingers. I really don't want to kiss our tax return goodbye that quickly. :(