Planning Woes

Man, what a rough twenty-four hours!

Things have been going pretty well this week, really. I've figured out cash and medications, for the most part, and made a couple of decisive moves to prepare for those two issues. Somehow, though, I've really had a streak of bad luck since about six o'clock last night!

I'll start with yesterday's accomplishments. Firstly, I woke up feeling better. On Tuesday, I had woken feeling like there was lead in my head, and so I went back to sleep. After puttering around for half the day, I went back to sleep for several hours, puttered around some more, and then went back to bed for the night. As I said, on Wednesday I woke up feeling quite a bit better, if still a little stuffy.

So, I dropped off my car at a nearby Mitsubishi dealership to get an 88-point check and to have the windshield replaced. Then mom and I went out to a few places just to do a little shopping and to get out of the house. We went to Marshall's, Bed Bath and Beyond, and finally to the Dollar Store. I spent $3.23 at the Dollar Store to get a good shower cap (can't hurt), sweater bags (with zippers, to compartmentalize my clothes a bit) and some moist toilettes (for cleaning up abroad when water's not available).

While we were out, the Mitsubishi garage called and recommended that I replace my driver belts and timing belt, because they were showing wear and had a few cracks. Although it was almost a $200 increase, I agreed to it. Side note: while my parents are going to take ownership of my car, and thus pay insurance and regular maintenance costs (gas, oil, etc), our agreement is that I'll pay any major costs that come up. Thus, I figured replacing the belts now, rather than it coming up as an issue during my trip, would be the best option. Note: I only replaced the belts because the mechanics recommended it. This will become important later in the story.

We headed home and then I went to the farmer's market with dad, and "sampled" lots of local breads and cheeses. Yum!

Sometime on Wednesday, I perused the Aetna website. I have an individual plan with them now and wanted to make an appointment to see a doctor to get my prescriptions started. I take two main prescriptions, one for my hypothyroidism and the other is BCP. Aetna absolutely will not cover more than 30 days of a refill per month, so I've had to kinda game the system a bit to figure out how to keep myself supplied while I'm away. Luckily, before I separated from the military, I was able to get 180 days of a refill on the thyroid meds. Unfortunately, they would only give me 90 days of BCP, and since I go through those faster (one pack only lasts me three weeks since I take them continuously) than most, those 12 weeks only last me 9 weeks. You can see why I've started worrying about this ahead of time.

ANYway, on Wednesday I was able to go on Aetna's website, find a nearby doctor, figure out insurance costs of refilling my medications (vs just paying cash) and a few other tidbits of information. I called one of the doctors on their list, set up an appointment, and wrote down the doctor's name address from Aetna's website (this becomes important later in the story too).

Dad drove me to pick up my car from the garage around 5:30pm. The guys there seemed pretty nice and we all chatted and joked for a bit. I have to bring the car back next week, since in order to pass an NC inspection (which my folks will need it to do), I have to replace a little red lens on my back bumper that's been missing for the last seven years. Ah, well. We drove back home, and then dad and I headed out, in my car, to have dinner at the Fish Shack, a place dad likes.

Ten minutes later, I was on the side of the road, trying to figure out what was making that awful racket from under my hood. At first, I thought a branch had gotten caught in the passenger wheel well; that's how loud it was! We soon figured out, however, that one of the newly replaced driver belts hadn't been installed correctly, and part of it had snapped, frayed, and whipped around a bit.

Long story short, I called Morgan Mitsubishi on Hillsborough Road, where I'd had the work done, and luckily reached someone (it was after closing hours) who gave me the number to their tow company. An hour later, dad and I were in the tow truck's cab, headed back to the dealership, where mom picked us up.

Boo, Morgan Mitsubishi. Boo.

We ended up eating dinner at a nearby bar instead of going to the Fish Shack, since we were starving. The burgers and tater tots were pretty good!

That wraps up Wednesday, and the beginning of my bad streak.

Thursday morning, mom and I headed out to the doctor's appointment (my car was still in the shop). We got to the address I had carefully written down from Aetna's website, and lo and behold, there was no such address. After driving around for a bit, trying 411 to get the address for the doctor, reaching his office and finding out that I wasn't in their system at all, we headed home. It turns out Aetna's listing shows the phone number I'd called for several doctors, none of whom are actually at that number!

I called the doctor I'd made the appointment with, rescheduled, and we headed out. When we got there, I realized I didn't have my insurance cards on me. Start another round of telephone tag with Aetna. Finally, getting the Aetna rep to talk to the receptionist seemed to do the trick.

Really, that's the end of the bad streak, but MAN it took all the umph out of me. Too must frustration!

On the plus side, the doctor seemed nice enough and I got the prescriptions I needed. Also, she'll write me a letter of need, showing why I have those meds on me (in case of border patrol checks, emergencies, etc, abroad).

Then we headed to AAA, and I ordered cash from them for South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, just to get me started in each country (especially South Korea, since I arrive pretty late). I also bought traveler's checks as my backup method of getting cash.

We also got my prescriptions started at a nearby (to home) pharmacy, although I bought two refills and an extra prescription with cash instead of through insurance. I also got my other prescriptions on file. Whew! I finally figured out that I have enough on me, now, to last me until early February. My mom will pick up my other prescriptions monthly (or I'll figure out how to get them delivered to her monthly), and she'll send me a big package in January, when I'll be in New Zealand. Thus, I'll be refilled midway through my trip.

Whew!

Last chore was to pick up my car, where the folks were not too apologetic, although they at least acknowledged that they'd made a mistake. Barely, though, and I'll not be returning to their shop (nor will my folks when they have the car).

So, hopefully this starts up my positive streak again, because it's time for some relaxing and all that good jazz!

By the way, I've really wanted to post my packing list, but the best one I have is on my home computer, which I rescued out of storage but has no mouse or keyboard (they were in a separate box). My folks only have wireless, so I need to figure something out. I promise to have that out soon, and hopefully with a picture of everything before I leave!

--Z