An ill wind...

'Tis an ill wind that blows no good.  I think I understand that a bit better after the past few days.  Mostly, because Monday marks four weeks from the last cycle meltdown and I am still feeling fairly clear, twelve days on the new medication.  I am afraid to hope that it was actually the new formulation that I was forced to switched to at the end of last summer when Loestrin was taken off the market rather than a conflict with the Erythromycin.  I know that Erythromycin can render the birth control part of the drug ineffective, but what I need is the hormone balancing effect.  Of course, if that is the case, then I really do think changing a formula of such a tiny pill to make it chewable is downright stupid.  That's what the manufacturer did.  Loestrin's patent ran out, so it was pulled and reformulated to chewable and renamed Minestrin.  SIGH.

The reason I am daring to think the Larin (my new hormones medication) might be working because I have had to face two really difficult situations in the past few days and I did not weep once.  Shocking, I know.

First, I did my taxes and got punched in the stomach, so to speak, with a $5,600 tax bill.  The probono financial advisor was right to withdraw the retirement to pay off the mortgage I cannot afford.  However, even after careful study, I failed to grasp two important tax implications:  1) since retirement is considered income, I not only had to pay taxes on the retirement, but I also had to pay taxes on the previously un-taxed disability and 2) the percentage of medical expenses (which our president inexplicably RAISED the deductible threshold from 7.5% to 10%) is actually applied toward the retirement as well as the disability.  So, whereas last year I was able to deduct all of my medical expenses since they were more than 50% of my "income," this year I was only able to deduct a tiny fraction of what I spent.   Hence, the rather large tax bill despite the fact that when I made the withdrawal, I had $4,250 in taxes taken out.

I freaked out. I gnashed my teeth.  I spend HOURS trying to do math. And then I withdrew enough from my retirement to cover the shortfall this year and next, since I will be in nearly the same boat next year.  Next year, in fact, I won't have any mortgage interest to deduct, so I should owe approximately $6,000.  In my frenetic problem solving, I first set up the withdrawal to send all of what I will own April 15, 2015 now.  But then I thought about that and decided to simply withdraw all of the tax money and stick it in my savings account.  The math was to figure out how much addition I would need to take out beyond the $11,600 I would need since that $11,600 would be taxable.  My math came up with $14,000.  So, that amount is now sitting in a brand new savings account ( I LOVE ING Direct ... even if the name changed).  I will have two months to earn interest on the $5,600 due this year and 14 months to earn interest on the $8.400 next year.  My math is worst at interest calculations, but it should be somewhere around $75.  Smart, eh?

Every. Single. Penny. Counts.  Oh, how my life has changed!

What terrifies me is that I am down to 25% of what I had in my retirement account just three years ago.  SIGH.

The second difficultly was last night.  I picked up the Erythromycin, took a dose, and thought it tasted strange.  Since it was not yet refrigerated, I figured I was just imagining things.  Six hours later, I took my next dose, and though it also off.  By this time, my stomach was started to cramp and bloat.  I had been 12 hours since my last real dose.  You see, I finally realized that the pharmacist did not mix up the Erythromycin.  I turned the bottle upside down and there was a gap between all the now petrified power at the top (bottom of the bottle) and the water at the bottom.  Of course the pharmacy was closed.

Becky's mother used to work at a pharmacy, so after trying to not become overwhelmed at the thought of the innards misery heading my way, I called her.  Bonnie suggested that I try a 24-hour CVS in the area, since it was a CVS prescription.  Brilliant idea!

I did.  The pharmacist had only a one-week bottle, but offered to give it to me, since mine could not be reconstituted properly since I had taken two extremely watery doses.  He gave me directions, but the street I was to take was closed.  So, I drove around for about a half hour, trying to find a street I knew.  I got the medication and took it immediately.  However, I still spent the night writhing on the bathroom floor.  SIGH.

When I called the pharmacist who failed to mix up the prescription today, to let him know that I needed another week's supply, he insisted he mixed it up.  I was still too ill and exhausted to even argue with him.  I simply announced I would be there tomorrow to get a new bottle, after my cardiologist appointment.

My cardiologist appointment that I've missed thrice and am determined to get to no matter what.  My cardiologist appointment that is on a day whose forecast has shifted from warm temperature and rain to more SNOW.  I cannot fathom how I am going to drive to the other side of Fort Wayne in a snow storm, but I am not going to miss this appointment.  Then, I shall show up at CVS for my prescription re-do.

Right now, I am having my last fire.  SADNESS.

Firewood Man did not have a chance to try and dig out some wood from the snowbank.  Given that after my cardiologist appointment, on Thursday the Great Melt of 2014 is scheduled to begin.  Warm temperatures, rain, sunshine, rain, more sunshine ... and on and on.  Whatever wood there is in the snowpack is going to be unusable for eons.

So, if I am not weeping over such an overwhelming tax bill, innards misery caused by a pharmacist's error, and the end of fires until next fall, could it be that the Larin is working as well as the Loestrin??  Could it be that the winds that buffet one about, bring trial and travail, can also still bring good?


I am Yours, Lord.  Save me!