There are very few Frugal wins over the past week.
* I got this lovely iv in the hospital.....
Which left this even lovelier bruise....
Luckily the bruise is almost gone at this point so I don't look like a dumb illegal IV drug user who doesn't know to inject themselves between their fingers or toes to hide the fact that they use illicit drugs.
* I did a bit of rebate shopping last week, some via Hubs and then some in person, and some of which that was for the food bank. Sorry no picture as it's all on it's way to said church food bank in Hub's car.
* I had five doc and dental appointments last week(one every day). All the doctor appointments were no cost to me but the two dental ones(I lost a filling)cost dearly as we don't have dental insurance and we self-pay. I can't believe I had to pay a dentist to just look in my mouth and say, "Yes, you lost a filling" and that cost $128!!
Then I went back two days later to have it actually filled and that was almost $400. And get this....the practice has multiple locations and they made the initial appointment and when we showed up they had no record of the appointment so they sent us off to another location, with an opening, in another city for that appointment to get my mouth looked at. Unreal. How about reducing that $128 fee to defray our time and gas to run all over town? Not a chance.
I had my PT assessment appointment for my right hip and thigh pain, that was the day after I got the nerve block from the pain management doc(which magically got moved up 2 weeks after they were adamant they had to wait 2 weeks since the Ortho had given me a steroid shot in my hip bursa....so were they lying or just "preferred" to wait 2 weeks?) I guess not being able to elevate my legs in a bed for a month was causing more harm to me than their protocol of waiting 2 weeks?
Getting the nerve block injection in my back was problematic in itself as it required me to lie flat on my stomach on a metal table(there was much yelling and moaning on my part during this procedure and if you know me, I have a high tolerance for pain, so that was torture.).
Let's not forget a trip to the Urgent Care and then they sent me to the ER a week ago Saturday as I had backed into the footrest on this wheelchair Hubs bought me while I was in the Rehab Hospital and caused a nickel sized wound on the back of my calf. We noticed it was bleeding and cleaned it up but still went to Urgent Care just in case as I am on a biologic drug that impedes healing. At the ER the doc(who we now knew from 2 of our previous ER trips before being admitted for the afore mentioned hip and thigh pain)saw it was now draining clear fluid(which is the body's way of flushing a wound/opening in the skin out)so he gave me a prophylactic antibiotic Rx and sent me home with instructions to keep it clean and open so it could heal. The pain management doc on Thursday heard I has on an antibiotic and almost refused to do the nerve block because of that. We laid ourselves prostrate and pleaded with him and he relented only if we promised to make an appointment with their wound care department, which we did on Friday.
When we walked in there, they took one look at the size of my lower legs(they were swollen because of not being able to elevate them and/or lay in a bed since Sunday when I got out of the Rehab Hospital and pronounced I had lymphedema and began to wrap both legs in bandages to such a degree it was impeding circulation and causing me pain to walk. They hardly even took note of the small wound I was there for! Of course trying to explain I hadn't been able to elevate my legs since Sunday and I have always had "meaty" calves fell on deaf ears as we aren't trained medical personnel and "they" know it all.
After one night of uninterrupted sleep on Thursday, and Friday, with those painful bandages on, I got very little sleep so by Saturday evening I had Hubs remove the outer wrapping so I could sleep Saturday night and we covered the inner bandages with the compression socks I wear when flying. Home health had been ordered for me too so we are awaiting their visit today.
* This is the best thing that happened for me last week..........
On the other hand we had to cancel our Alaskan cruise due to all this medical crap and today we should be in the port of Juneau and going on my much anticipated Dog Sled and Husky puppies cuddling adventure.
The cruise line only refunded us 1/4 of what we paid for the cruise and is making us go through the travel insurance we paid for to recoup the rest of the $$$ we shelled out. So I am in no mood this week.....
Grand Total Found this Year.......$8.44 & 5.30 Euros
That's all I got and all I can do right now.
Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods? Let's hear all about them!
Sluggy
