Quotidian annoyances

Last week when Charles and I headed for work his Buick wouldn’t change gears. The next day we tried putting a new battery in his Ford. It had been sitting idle for a few months. The car give nary a response. Had it towed to a garage where they replaced the battery cables. From there it was towed to a tire place for four new tires. Next morning one tire was flat. They must’ve used an air wrench when putting the tires on. Neither Yance nor I could budge any of the nuts a millimeter. Another tow to the tire store where they fixed the defective valve.

Off to Eckerds so Charles could have a raft of prescriptions filled. The pharmacist tells us that Charles is no longer covered by Medicaid. Huh? At the Social Services office Charles learns that he’d drawn the Community Chest card that reads “We accidentally cancel your Medicaid account!” Back at the pharmacy with papers the pharmacist lets Charles have a few of the pills (colestid) he needs so he can eat food ‘on account.’ Yesterday at Eckerds we find he’s still not back in the Medicaid system and pay $38 dollars so he can eat for the next three days (if Charles had to pay for the medication it would cost him almost $400 a month to be able to tolerate food).

Charles is trapped. If he gets a job he’ll love his coverage. Without Medicaid and Medicare he’d need about a thousand dollars a month for medicine. I can’t guess what his medical care would cost, particularly if his crohn’s goes out of remission.

For some times I’ve been auctioning off my Golden Age comics on eBay to help us get by. Last week a guy offered to take a bunch of fairly cheap comics off my hand if I’d knock 25% off. That translates to about $900 in my pocket once eBay is paid so how could I say now. We probably can’t afford it but I may buy a bike with part of that. I’m not getting enough exercise and probably won’t without a bike. And since I don’t drive I’ve felt trapped since my old bike was stolen.

I’d gone about ten days without smoking. But the recent series of unhappy happenings broke my will. Another expense, a stupid, inexcusable one at that.

Just a summary, no whining allowed.