Tie-Er

I’ve had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad week and I am trying to recover from it, slowly. It has not been easy. Last week was supposed to be a week where I got things figured out and back on track so to speak, but instead of that I now am more hopelessly behind than ever. (I guess that’s not really any different than usual, is it? But. I felt like I was getting somewhere, so I feel disheartened now.)

Monday I was supposed to go see my doctor about what’s going on with my tummy. I have a huge swollen “pocket” of fluid that showed up and is about the size of two fists. (I mean, in fairness, it’s two of my fists, and I have small hands…). The good news is, they don’t have to drain it or anything and if I just let the thing heal and put heat packs on it, that should heal up just fine. But, I need to do more resting. Like, more resting instead of pushing myself so much. So that’s good I guess. Good: because the answer is not something involving cutting. (Thank goodness for freaking freak’s sake!) Bad: because more resting. But all-in-all I’d much rather the answer be that I should rest than to have the answer be that I should get more antibiotics or something. I can rest. I will. I will get better. That’s good.

Unfortunately, on the way down to the doctor, we hit a pretty deep pothole on the highway. And it caused this to happen to one of the tires:

Neither of us were sure what exactly had happened at the time, but the car had bobbed substantially and I thought we would have to pull over immediately because “something” must be broken. It had to be. “Shouldn’t we check?” I asked, “To be sure? Are we sure the car is fine?”

“It seems fine. Won’t do us any good to just pull over,” said Master Pravus, “We’re not drifting or anything.”

We drove in silence for a couple of minutes before he said it:

“The tires. We have to pull over.”

-_-

So we did. Master Pravus carefully pulled off to the safest place he could and got out of the car. He tried to patch the tire, and we tried to drive the rest of the way to the doctor on it. It wasn’t immediately apparent that the tire was just.. Fucked. At first we thought it was maybe patchable. After my appointment we started driving away from the doctor when we noticed there was a helicopter sound. But. The “helicopter” didn’t pass us overhead and we figured out pretty quickly it was us. We were the helicopter. We had to pull over. That’s when we noticed the reason the patch wasn’t holding was because the tire had substantially more damage than we initially saw. So. We had to switch to the spare. Of course.

We put the spare tire on, but the lug nuts were put on too tight at the car shop a few months ago when we bought new tires. (Sigh). This meant that the bolt broke off inside the security key when we were taking the final lug nut off. And that put us in the position of having to drive home with one bolt less down the slow lane with our hazards on. Joy! >.>

So, the good news is: the car shop immediately agreed this was their fault. They agreed to replace the security key and the bolt on the hub, and they’re going to replace the broken lug nut. We’re obviously going to pay for our tire, because y’know. Not their fault.

We’ve already looked into it, and the state doesn’t pay for the repair of the tire even though it was actually a pothole on the state highway. (Everyone and his uncle has told us to look into this.) They only cover it if you have hospital bills due to bodily injury, not a car repair. And while car problems fucking suck, I’m lucky I didn’t get hurt (being fragile) and I’m lucky Master Pravus didn’t get banged up. But we did maintain control of the car etc. I just mean: “lucky” in that, I would rather be dealing with the car problem, than to be chasing the state for an injury because the car flipped or something. But. This did not lend itself to a good start to the week. >.<

Tuesday was my birthday. I don’t think my birthday could have gone much worse than it did? It was just, bad news after bad news and not a lot of joy in it. It sucked. Nobody in my family remembered it was my birthday. (This is, aside from Master Pravus and my Dragon, who both made it special in their own way.) But, somehow the rest of the family dropped the ball? Like not a phone call. Literally? And as someone who remembers everyone else. That felt garbagy. Like. Really crummy. My standards for my birthday are literally: please just wish me a happy birthday. >.> But. No. That. I mean for whatever reason it just kind of felt like a slap on top of all the bad news going on.

I was supposed to have my appointment on Friday to be seen by the doctor at Interventional Radiology. They’re just a consultant, they won’t do anything that day. I had to call every fucking day this week and nobody picked up. I left messages because the car is not in drivable condition (for a two hour+ each way trip journey!) and it will not be able to take that trip before the twentieth. (My appointment was supposed to be the seventeenth.) I finally got a call THE MORNING OF the appointment allowing me to reschedule. She was, at least, sympathetic to my car problems which was nice. (Not that I necessarily need her sympathy, but you know, I prefer a sympathetic receptionist to one that’s angry I am cancelling last second. But again: I CALLED DAILY AS SOON AS I KNEW! oihfeurhgkajd!)

So, I can’t even discuss having my port looked at until sometime in June. (I’ll let you know how it goes!) But on top of the daily calls I had to make trying to reschedule my consult every frickin’ day, I also am having to deal with my medical supply company not wanting to issue extra supplies since I have a port that can’t be accessed without an ultrasound. Their answer every time I call: “Ohhh this is serious you should call your doctor.” I did. He has me SET UP with my SPECIALISTS please just. Issue my supplies? They literally keep commenting that they hope my port gets fixed on my consult day. It won’t. It definitely won’t. I will have to schedule that at the very least. Christ on a cracker.

Really, they’re angry because using more supplies costs more money. But we have a need for extra supplies right now. And that still doesn’t make this an emergency. I’m tired of fighting everyone on every front. It’s so fucking annoying. I had a different company before we moved and they sent additional supplies when the circumstances were extenuating, but this company? They dicker over every item. Every piece of anything I need, even things I have a prescription for they insist I don’t need. Even stuff that’s absolutely necessary. It’s exhausting.

Master Pravus had to go pick up a prescription (a five minute drive at best) and now the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT is on. Is it from that pothole? I don’t know. >.< I’ve had enough. I’m (As Master Pravus will tell you) “Tie-er.”

Ohhhh yeah. And the car shop called Master Pravus on Friday to just let us know they haven’t ordered the parts yet. You know, for the repair on Monday? I’m about 50% sure we’re gonna wind up having to reschedule that and I can’t even. >.<

Next week better be 100% good! (Ok. Maybe 70% good. I’ll take 70% good.)