Yesterday afternoon, as I sat in my office, I felt a bizarre sensation. My left ear had lost functionality. It felt full of ooze. Since my throat has been full of ooze for weeks, I figured the ooze was simply sick of its surroundings and was branching out.
This morning, I woke up and, in a very non-melodramatic way, assumed death was near. My ear felt generally okay, except for annoying, incessant ringing. My special old-lady-who-has-smoked-for-her-entire-life cough returned. Most concerning, I couldn't breath particularly well. I advised my assistant that my sick ass would not be coming in. I figured I should try to see if some stuff I had at home would break up whatever was residing in my lungs. I took meds. I gathered naked cats.
I slept. Didn't work.
Dammit. I had to seek medical intervention. I didn't even bother trying to deal with my normal doctor. It was after 1 and they are a pain in the ass. So I grabbed It's Not about the Money and rode to the land of doom.
I witnessed gross crap in the waiting room. Dude, she's too young for you and you shouldn't be hitting on her. Dude, her grandmother looks into you though. I don't know the stage past a cougar. All of it, gross. Read your book, Danielle. Just read your book and don't touch anything.
Fortunately, Quick Care was pretty quick. The triage nurse didn't believe that my normal body temperature is low, so I just let that be. It was amusing when she made fun of my primary doctor, who apparently used to work there. Blah blah blah.
Dr. time. No pneumonia. Good. Gee, you can't really breathe. No shit. Is it the fact that I can say four words and then I am struggling for air or the fact that your doctor tools indicate that I can't get air? I told you that. I don't enjoy taking unnecessary time off from work to visit Quick Care. I especially hate being sick and taking antibiotics because that makes the yeast come back to my GI system.
Conclusion: really bad bronchitis. It's always really bad bronchitis. (Except for that one time that the really bad bronchitis turned into pneumonia. That was a bitch.) Rx list. Steroids. Shit. Prednisone makes me insane. I have batshit crazy dreams and I act like a lunatic on the first day of that stupid pack. Oh, it's not the stupid pack. Saints be praised. Biaxin. Does it come in a generic? (See, that was me being frugal because I don't want to pay $60 for the brand name.) Ok.
Here's the thing, I believe Biaxin is the devil. Before I had sinus surgery, I was on it for 6 weeks straight. I believe it somehow kills illnesses by eating the lining of your stomach, so I am going to be a mega-bitch for the next ten days. (Be thankful that I tend to pre-load my posts.)
Get to Smith's, my beloved pharmacy. $67. Why so many American (big breath) dollars? Because of the inhaler? Yeah, I don't want that then. My husband has 15. Down to $25. Yes, this will be reimbursed by my FSA, but I am not wasting money on big ticket meds that I don't need, dammit. I need that to last all year.
So, here's how being more frugal helped at the doctor. First, even though I couldn't breathe, I went to Quick Care and not to the ER. $70 saved on co-pay. Then, I made sure that I had an antibiotic that comes with a generic. Sure, I'm going to be a crazy bitch as it eats the lining of my stomach over the next ten days, but I saved $50. Turning down the inhaler saved me another $42. So even though this was an unexpected expense, I managed to minimize costs where possible. Old spendthrift Danielle never would have done that. EVER.
