Stressful Times

A lot has been going on in my world the past few weeks. One is that graduation is rapidly approaching and I have nothing lined up for after it! I have not been able to even get a job interview and it is stressing me out completely. I am totally broke right now and I am not sure how I am going to pay student loans, nursing school prerequisites, car insurance, medical copays, etc. without a job.

Speaking of nursing school, I am planning on signing up for microbiology, chemistry and human growth and development this summer. I had to drop chemistry this semester because it was too much to focus on and I was not doing as well as I wanted. Now to pay for them...

Another big issue is health insurance. Since I am in MA, I am required to have it. While I really like this, most of the providers I have now will not accept the state health insurance. So I will have to start fresh with a new set, which is always fun (extreme sarcasm).

On the lupus front, however, there is much better news. I am doing and feeling great. My rheumatologist said this is the healthiest she has seen me in the 2.5 years I have been seeing her. Pretty nice to hear, especially since I feel the same way also.

The semester is wining down, which of course means a lot of work. Oof. I just wish I had a crystal ball to look to the future so I can see if everything will be OK or not.

Hello Long Weekend!

Columbus Day is tomorrow which means no school! And furthermore, Tuesday runs on a Monday schedule and Mondays are my easy day! I will be spending most of tomorrow catching up on school work, but at least I will have the time to catch up.

I recently had a conversation with my dad and he told me I should cut back my hours from about 20 a week to 12-15 hours a week. Easier said than done since I am still broke working all these hours. He said he would help me out, but of course I feel bad about that.

I am also stressing myself out way too much about After Graduation. I did not make TFA, and I am disappointed, but not devastated. Everything happens for a reason and I am sure I will find something to do that will make me equally as happy. Whether that be in medicine or education or music business I do not know and that is what is stressing me out the most.

On the medical front, I started 7.5mg of prednisone today. I have been more tired and achy since reducing, but I hope I can continue. Honestly, pain is a reality in my life. Unless it is excruciating, then I can deal with it. I almost expect it. I can't tell if this is good or bad thing yet...

That is all for now. I hope everyone has a great upcoming week!

So Disheartening

Just a few minutes ago I went to pick up a refill of my Cellcept prescription at the pharmacy. I was shocked when the total copay turned out to be $20. It previously had been $10, and I had trouble affording that with the other medicines I take and the $15 copay for my Nexium prescription. Now I will have to pay $20 for generic and $35 for brand name(!!!!). Yearly this will be somewhere around $2000. Over two times what I made in the entirety of last year and a HUGE chunk of all the money I will make this year.

This is just so frustrating to me. When I think I have my finances under control things like this happen to make it worse again. I just want to be able to go out with my friends and if I didn't have lupus this would be possible. My friends and I have set a goal to go on vacation before 2011 if done. I haven't been on a real vacation in years. However, with most of my money going toward prescriptions and my car insurance (because it is necessary for me to have it when I am at school because the area is a little rural and there is no public transportation to my rheumatologist and the hospital if necessary), I don't know if it can happen. I'm so disappointed.

I'm gong to try my hardest to figure out some other options for paying for my medicine. My family is not financially able to support me like this, so it really rests on me. My dad said he will help out with my prescriptions when he saw how bummed I was, but that's an additional burden on him that I do not feel right asking him to take on. Somethings gotta give soon.

Where Has All the Money Gone?

This is another post about money, or my lack of it. My car insurance was cancelled today because neither me nor my dad can pay it. I am hoping to get it reinstated soon, but who knows. I rely on my car a lot. I was planning on using it today, but then I got the call. I also got prescribed two medicines today: Flovent and Albuterol for coughing fits I have been having at night. I probably will not fill them because I don't want to pay for them. I also need to renew my parking permit for the 2010-2011 school year, but it is $275 and since I don't even have enough to pay my car insurance that's not going to happen. So I will have to go back on the waiting list and wait for a spot to open up again like I did this semester.

I am thinking of applying for a third job. It is pretty simple, answering calls from home for paid advertisements and the like. It is not an extraordinary amount of money, but it would help of course.

Anyway, I have so much work to get done. I have an annotated bibliography due tomorrow for Writing as Communication so I should get back to that.

Now, Seriously...

So my health insurance covered my surgery. But they did not cover the anesthesia. The bill for that is more than I made in all of last year. It's ridiculous. I have no way to pay for it. And I do not think that it is going to get paid anytime soon. My financial situation is bad. My shoes have holes in them and I do not have enough money to replace them. My money normally goes to bills and prescriptions. It does not leave a lot left over. And I hold onto that money because I never know when something will come up. Another prescription might be added and I will need that money for the copay. Or my car, which is the only method I have to getting to my rheumatologist, will have some issue and I need the money to fix it.

I'm really scared about my financial future. I am 21 years old. I have school loans to think about. I am not in debt because I spent too much on credit cards like a lot of people my age, but because I have a chronic illness that has required multiple, expensive interventions. I should not have to worry about this. My biggest concern about graduating is finding a way to pay off this bedt and having health insurance. I would love to go to graduate school. I will have health insurance then, but I will also have more student loans. There really is no way to win.

Speaking of health interventions, I am really sick of being sick right now. I can't seem to catch a break. I've had mouth sores the past few days. Now my throat hurts and I can't tell if it is because I have mouth sores on the back of my tongue or its a real sore throat. One of my apartment-mates is sick with a cough and sore throat. My ears have started to itch and hurt as well.

And then there are the biweekly blood draws that I am really confused about. Some of them are fully covered by my insurance and some are not. I need to figure out why that it. I have paid off one bill, but I can't do anymore. I will need new sneakers soon, and there's that little issue of needing to feed myself.

Oh, and I got a tuition bill. Financial aid said they would help me with it last semester, so I hope that when I go to them they will say the same thing. Even though it is definitely small compared to other people's, I really cannot afford it.

My job is being ridiculously stressful as well. It is a campus work-study job. There is no need for that.

Well, I am just a whiner today. But I' m pretty stressed out and what are blogs for?

Show Me the Money!

I got my work schedule yesterday. I'm going to be working an extra hour a week, which might be a little crazy. However, I need the money. Groceries are expensive! And I need to keep myself fed. Also, I need some work done on my car and who knows how much that will cost.

So hopefully my financial situation won't be too bad. I want to have enough to feed myself and some to play around with. I have a pretty bland fashion style and feel like taking a few risks. Which of course requires money...

I'm so happy its the weekend. I still have a lot to do, but I'm not running around going to class. I'm thinking hard about dropping my class on New Media and taking the second half of the advertising class I took last semester. The subject matter of advertising is interesting, but it is a 200 level class and I need a certain number of 300 level classes, which New Media is. So I need to print out my requirements and see where I am. Speaking of printing, I'm going to need new ink soon and, of course, that requires money...