The Bazillion Life Events of the First Half of 2014

There are literally (yes, literally...  okay, not really) a bazillion things that have happened in the last six months that I haven't gotten around to writing about.  I can't coverall bazillion things here (since it's not actually a real number) but I can highlight some of the unending crap that I have had slopped onto my plate since December.

Matt came home in December.  It was freaking awesome!  It's always awesome when I have all of my kiddo's sitting around a fire, in the living room, or around a dinner table.  I have almost forgotten what it is to have three kids at home.  Loud and crazy!  After two weeks of noise and constant motion, I'm ready for some rest though not ready to take him to the airport.  It kind of sucks eggs.

Also in December, Lindsay was put on a whole bunch of new meds, one of which she had a reaction to and had to discontinue its use in January.  Because her medical and mental health needs were swiftly becoming more than our pocketbook could handle and the pending insurance requirement, I applied for health insurance for Rob and Lindsay in January.  Lindsay was immediately put on a state plan with a minimal enrollment fee.  For the first time in years she was taking all of her medication as prescribed and I wasn't anxious about her physical state all the time.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that the cost of Rob's plan was out of our reach, especially if you consider actually using it - paying copays, coinsurance, and deductibles.  I waited to see if I could fit it in our budget.  A week later he ended up in the emergency room at 11:30 at night.  The diagnosis?  Gallstone.  They recommended a surgeon and told us not to wait for an appointment.  And, that's right, no insurance.

With a few weeks, he was in surgery.  The gallstones, turns out there were two, were the size of golf balls and his gallbladder was three times its normal size.  He was lucky.  Surgery was successful, but it was hard on him.  What should have been an "easy" (according to the surgeon) outpatient procedure became an overnight stay with a drainage tube placed.  He was in a tremendous amount of pain, took hours and hours to rouse from anesthesia, experienced trouble breathing the first day, and had an irregular heartbeat for a few hours after surgery.  Needless to say, I was a wreck.  I was forced to see my husbands mortality, something I have intentionally never looked at for more than a few seconds - because lets face it, it's some scary shit to think about your husband dying.  I tried to get him to promise me he wouldn't die, but he's yet to make that promise.  Bastard.  As if my anxiety wasn't over the top normally, now I'm worried about his health all. the. time.  He was never sick!  Now I feel like he's fragile.

Not only did he not have insurance, he had no PTO at work and needed 10 days to recover.  That was rough.  We're still playing catch up, and we're going to be paying medical bills for some time to come.

I finished up my Spring classes at the end of April and have been free since then, but I just confirmed that I cannot pay for my final class in October.  Seriously, one fucking class and I can't take it.  If I hadn't had to make hard choices about incoming bills because of lost income, I wouldn't be in the situation.  $1,234.00 (I know, right?!) will get me my Masters degree.  Well, fuck a fucking duck.  That's my favorite saying.  Leave me alone.

In May, we had the awesome Lindsay experience.  That experience is still going, getting better every day.  Don't be fooled by my lack of a sarcasm font.  It's implied.