SICK

So my entire family is/was sick. Crystal had more horrible facial pain in her face last week, resulting in another trip to the hospital. Then we all developed some sort of stomach virus or food poisoning, and various substances were coming out of random orifices, etc. It was a good end of the week/weekend.

Crystal's hospital visit was a nightmare of truly astonishing proportions. The last time we were there, they treated her in the fairest and best way ever. While they tried to get her pain under control, they let her stay in the hospital for a couple days for monitoring, and only when they felt her condition was treated did they let her leave. Last week, the admitting doctor upstairs in the hospital proper told her flat-out that because she had come to the hospital for help with her Vicodin addiction in the past, he would not be giving her any pain meds. Nevermind the fact that downstairs in the E.R., where we had just spent a couple hours, they were giving her morphine and dilaudid to try and control her pain.

Crystal basically imploded. She didn't know what to do. They were telling her that she was going to have to sit there all night and be in pain, while they would treat her with Tylenol and a hot pack. We wouldn't have been in the fucking hospital if the problem could have been treated at home, now would we? The doctor told her that he didn't feel she was really in pain, and implied she was there to score drugs again. We waited down in the E.R. for hours, and Crystal even went through an MRI, one of the scariest things she's ever done (she's claustrophobic and has panic-anxiety..."Okay, now hold perfectly still and don't move for about forty-five minutes while trapped in this tight spinning tube"). If we were really there to score drugs, we would have left HOURS AGO. Not to mention that I wouldn't have taken any part of it. We're not ending up where we were before, thanks.

I was livid, Crystal was devastated...we left, after Crystal made a huge scene in front of all the nurses and patients, at 11:00 at night. Normally I would have been embarrassed by that sort of thing, but I was too angry at that fucking doctor to even care what the rest of the hospital thought. My wife was in horrifying pain and they were refusing to help her because of something she had sought help for before. Fucking ridiculous. She spent the rest of the night in bed, sobbing hysterically and feeling like she was never going to be able to get help again. It was absolutely horrible.

She got help the next day from her primary doctor, which was basically a life-saver. I don't know what we would have done without it. She got her nerve-meds refilled and he gave her a prescription for some pain meds, which worked to get everything under control again. I think in the future she has to make sure she has her nerve meds on hand if she needs them. She didn't get the last prescription filled because the pain had ebbed a bit, and her primary suggested she stop taking them to see what happened. Next time we'll know it comes and goes.

So after all that, this stomach virus completely destroyed us. Evelyn was sick and puking all day, then Crystal got it, and then it passed to me. I threw up so much that I haven't had a voice for two days. It's actually worse today. It's never happened to me before, and I didn't even know throwing up could do that. Was in the stomach acid? Or the retching itself? Or is it something completely coincidental? All I know is it fucking sucks. I'm already worried about being back at work after having missed the end of last week and yesterday. I could be suspended for five days, or perhaps even fired if they're feeling especially vindictive, and now I have no voice to even make calls today. Not exactly feeling like a contributing member of the team, here. I've been here for almost three hours so far and they haven't said anything, but that could always change.

ARGH

I got a letter in the mail yesterday from my life insurance company, telling me I am now ineligible for coverage. I had to fill out a health questionnaire in order to add my son as a beneficiary, and for some reason I decided to be honest. Apparently I'm too fat to provide for my family in case something happens.

I've had life insurance through this company for six years, and only now, when I need to add another person, do they suddenly take an interest in my health. I've stayed around the same weight pretty much the whole time I've been here, but this might be the first time I've filled out one of these questionnaires.

More than anything before, this drives home the simple fact that I need to lose some fucking weight. It was scary when the doctor told me I had given myself diabetes, but I guess I got over that fear. Stress and daily fears of another nature will do that to you. This is a whole new level of terrifying. This is the livelihood of my wife and kids should something happen to me. A safety net has suddenly been pulled out from under them, and if I bring this whole crazy circus act down by getting in an accident or for a health reason, they are the ones that have to take the fall. I can't let that happen.

I WON'T let that happen.

Too bad, so sad.

Somehow, in our first couple weeks living at the new apartment, we've managed to piss off the neighbors in all three other apartments. How did we manage this feat? By having our cable set up. As it turns out, one person was paying for cable and letting everyone else splice off of his. We were one of the apartments getting free cable, but we wanted an actual cable box, with a guide and on demand and all that, and we wanted our internet set up.

The first guy that came out to hook up our box made a comment about seeing all the splices when he was down fiddling with the cable, but said he wouldn't report anything. After he was done, however, we were having a lot of problems with the picture and sound cutting out. It happened all the time, and made TV practically unwatchable. So we had another tech come out to inspect, and he said it's because the signal was so weak and disrupted due to the splicing. He also said it was illegal and he'd have to cut the wires. Then, as a kick to the junk for everyone else, he put a lock on it. Dun dun dunnnn.

So because of us wanting quality television, our neighbors are now pissed off at us. The girl right downstairs came up yesterday to talk to Crystal while I was at work, and had an attitude. "Up until yesterday we all had free cable. Do you know what happened to it?" When Crystal told her that the cable guy came and "fixed" everything, she got upset. "I'm not sure if you knew, but everyone here had that free cable. The people that lived here before you had a wireless router so they could get free internet, too." Well I'm sorry, bitch, that I don't have a wireless router. Do you want to buy one for me and set it up? We also didn't know. Our landlord didn't tell us about it (but I'm sure he knew), and none of the neighbors mentioned it to us prior to having it cut off.

I'm feeling absurdly guilty, like we did something wrong, instead of just ordering and paying for TV. It cost us $120 to set all that shit up, now you're going to get an attitude with me because I wanted good TV? Well maybe you should have fucking said something! How were we supposed to know the situation? The guy right across the hall is apparently the one that did all the splicing, he couldn't have popped over and said "Hey just so you guys know we have free cable, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call anyone so we don't get in trouble." It's ridiculous to be angry with us now. Look, I'm sorry your welfare check doesn't cover your cable bill. Maybe you should stop smoking so much weed and spend it on TV, instead. Also, you're pregnant, so maybe you should just stop smoking weed, period.

I have nothing to be sorry for, yet I feel like I'm in trouble. Maybe it's because now everyone thinks we narced on them.

Be(snow)deviled

I was over an hour late to work this morning because of the snow. This wouldn't be so bad, if I hadn't left an hour before I had to actually be there. I spent almost two and a half hours in the fucking car, sitting in traffic while some fucking idiots drove too fast and had an accident, and some other fucking idiots slowed traffic so they could watch, leading to a back-up that caused what would normally take me between four and ten minutes to drive to actually take an hour and a half. It was three miles. THREE MILES.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

The best part is that it's been snowing all day today, so I get to leave in a little over an hour and do it ALL OVER AGAIN. I wouldn't bet on me getting home before six.

Banging about in the South Metro

Things at the new apartment are finally coming together. We bought a new TV and TV stand, a new couch, chair, and ottoman, a new computer, we're coming to grips with the sheer amount of laundry we have, and our cable and internet got hooked up yesterday. It's starting to feel like an actual home, now, and not just a place where we're crashing.

The neighbors across the hall are loud all through the night, the neighbors directly downstairs apparently like to smoke a lot of pot, and the neighbors down and across have a Rottweiler that likes to bark when we do laundry. Our noisy dog and annoying kids fit right in. Awwww.