Life maintenance
😌
Last week sprang some good surprises, the biggest one being that my health insurance started covering my ulcerative colitis med again. Tuesday’s surprise was that my busy doctor had an opening the next day, so I scheduled a video visit for a much needed conversation about all this.
Wednesday’s surprise came just before the doctor visit, when my insurance called to tell me I could get my refills through another pharmacy. So I was able to give my doctor that info so he could send off the prescription.
In the meantime, to tide me over, the insurance had overridden their claim denial with the old pharmacy, which I wasn’t sure about till that day. The other obstacle to the order was the data processing outage from the Change Healthcare cyberattack. Thursday’s surprise was that, despite the outage, the pharmacy was able to schedule my med’s shipment to arrive the next Wednesday. Whew!
And the surprise through the whole week was that I seemed to be in remission, which my earlier meds never achieved. Whatever else you might say about big pharma corps, sometimes their drugs do the job.
I was expecting to be living in my tunnel of worry through at least this week while I waited to hear about the patient assistance program, so this early exit was a relief. And it gives me time to prepare for the next time the medical system chokes on me.
Now that I have mental space to deal with life, this week I’m finishing my taxes and researching the upcoming primary election. I started the taxes Saturday, and I spent some time organizing my old tax notes and starting a procedure doc so I can think about tax prep less in the future.
Spirituality
🙏
I continued delving into coping with daily routines, an image of rushing water, and a sense of solidarity. While they’re not specifically spiritual, my routines kept my everyday life manageable and unobtrusive while I dealt with my worries.
The water image came from some Immanuel prayer during one of my devotional sessions. It conveyed a sense that God’s power was rushing below, around, and through me for my good. This video of rapids felt like a good representation, so it got a lot of airtime on my more anxious days. I’d switch over to it and ponder how God’s plans swirl around and sweep over each of us like water over the rocks.
While in my tunnel of worry I felt a deep solidarity with other people who felt alone in desperate situations. Now that I’m more free, I’m trying to keep that sense of connection and to keep my eyes open for ways I can help.
Nature
😌
Early in the week when life was still uncertain, I took more therapy walks out in nature. Sunday I visited the horses and woods.
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So glad to hear that your medicine is covered by insurance!
Thanks! We’ll see how long it lasts, but I feel more prepared for next time.
I like your imagery of God flowing around and through us. We just need to remember that He is always there.
Yes, that’s the challenge.