Co-pays and spring cleaning

Out of the blue this evening I am getting the "bugs" running across my legs. It is annoying more then anything as you have to scratch it to make it stop itching. I have tried all the meds like benadryl but none of them worked or had much of an effect. It runs up mostly the thigh but I have started to get it here and there on my arms, middle of my back and sometimes on the crown of my head. I have added this to my list of things to talk with the doc about on my follow up and if all goes well we will move to 90 day follow ups.

It's not that I mind going to see the doc but every visit, even if it is follow up requires to pay the co-pay. Then if they change the meds it means I have to buy another prescription and I may not have finished the last one. Even with my co-pay some of the meds are very expensive if they have no generic equivalent or if they are not a preferred brand. I have 3 co-pay levels, $5/20/35. While most of them are in the $5 range I do have one that is $35 per week and another that is $20 every 2 weeks. That is $180 a month on two meds and when you add all the others in there I get close to about $225 each month. If you add in the co-pay to see the doc, the monthly trip to the ER (lately), the co-pay for X-ray, CT-Scan, MRI there has been months where my out of pocket hits close to $500 bucks. This year I hit my yearly deductible for my whole family in 2 months, by myself. My goal is to not do that again.

Other then that it has been a good day of low pain, mostly around the 2-3 on the 10 scale. I did notice that on days where I have low pain I tend to be more tired, even if I had a good nights sleep. I guess it is not that big of a deal though as I work from home (for myself) so my hours can be adjusted. If I need to take a nap when the baby does then it is not a big deal. Of course it is like a double edged sword. Since the pain is low and even though I am tired I feel like doing something which in turn does cause the pain level to go up some. I do like the tradeoff though as the pain will come down with a bit of a rest and the house is straightened up.

Since I have been on the new meds I have knocked out a ton of "spring cleaning" that needed to be done. With both the boys growing so fast, I went through all of their things and now have a good amount of clothes to donate and my wife went through a lot of her clothes and is donating them. Most of the baby's clothes will go to my brother and his wife as they are expecting their second child which we have been told will be a boy. No sense in them having to repurchase all the things we have already and since all my sons things are in great shape it makes no sense to throw them out. Everything else will go to the local women shelter, which is where take all our serviceable items that we have no need for. It is a good feeling knowing that they will be put to good use and that someone will be able to not have to worry about a winter coat this year. It also meant that they then have that much more money to get on their feet and out of the cycle of violence.

Tomorrow we will hit home depot and get the things needed for the fence and get that fixed and hopefully we will have the dog here in a few days.

I have also decided to change the font and size to make it easier to read. The old font and size were ok but admittidly they were probably to small.