What's Up With Ica?

I feel like a blog slacker lately.  And that's dumb because there's actually a lot I want to write about so . . . here's a pretty random mish mash of what's going on in my life.

1.  The debit card debacle.  Back on New Years Eve I got an email from my bank, basically saying that my card had been compromised (in that whole Target thing that happened) and they were sending me a new one.  A week later I still didn't have my new card so I called the customer service line and apparently there was an error in my address (the zip code was missing).  I updated the address and was told by what I'm assuming is the dumbest CSR at Compass that I had to actually go into my bank to request another card be sent since the first one had been returned.  So I did that on January 8th, and the teller at the bank said that since I was requesting it in person my current card had to be canceled.  Which meant no debit card until my new one came, which was supposed to happen in 7-10 business days.  Well, jump ahead three weeks and I'm still debit card-less, so I went into the bank and asked WTF was going on, and basically got told to be more patient.  A week later, after 4 weeks of no debit card, I called customer service, and found out that the dumbest CSR ever had somehow removed my apartment number from my address.  Awesome.  So I updated that and then was told that I had to call back after 24 hours and request that another card be sent and that it could be rushed to me at no charge.  I did that, and was told that since it was being rushed I'd have to be home to sign for it when it came.  Which obviously ticked me off because I'm not home during the day . . . but whatever.  At this point I'd decided to switch banks but I still wanted Compass to hold up their end of things and get me my freaking card.  So this past Friday I opened a checking and savings account at a different bank, and I'll be closing my Compass account this week.  And my Compass debit card also came this past Friday, and I didn't have to sign for it; it was sitting on my porch when I got home from dinner with Jerbs.  Seriously, WTF.  I'm glad it's almost done with, and I'm excited about my new bank!

2.  The financial controller at my work jokingly gave me crap about coming to work on my birthday.  And the conclusion of the conversation was her telling me that next year I absolutely have to because no one should work on their birthday.  Not really a big deal, but it makes me so happy that it's just an assumption that I'll still be working there on my next birthday.  I love having a job that actually feels stable and where it actually feels like I'm wanted.

3.  I've been a slacker in the fitness department for the past week or so but for some reason, my motivation seems to have come back all at once today.  I did OK diet wise and worked out for almost an hour (work out videos at home).  I also created a kind of work out regimen with online work out videos, and I'm really excited about it.  It took a lot to get up and work out this evening but man, I felt awesome afterwards.  Sometimes I forget how much better I feel when I'm working out consistently.

4.  Someone on MFP posted this long rant in the forums about how ridiculous/confusing it is that mental illness is suddenly "cool" and that people are "bragging" about stuff like being bipolar and acting like it's a badge of honor.  I won't lie, it, and some of the responses to it, kind of upset me.  But I didn't let it get to me and I have since concluded that what this person really has a problem with is the fading of the stigma that's always existed when it comes to mental illness.  It's becoming less and less of a shameful thing that needs to be hidden and more of an issue that needs to be addressed to be beaten.  I guess it's really not surprising that some people are uncomfortable with that, but still.  At any rate, I want to say that I absolutely don't think being bipolar is a badge of honor--but overcoming bipolar sure as hell is, and I'll wear it with pride for the rest of my life.

5.  I found out yesterday that Lithium can cause severe acne, which explains why my skin has royally sucked the past couple years (after being damn near flawless my whole life).  Obviously I'm not going to stop taking Lithium in favor of better skin but I'm kind of glad to know why it's happening.

6.  In general, right now, I'm just feeling very optimistic and happy.  And I love it.

Feeling Better And Getting Sick(?)

Mentally I'm feeling much better.  A weekend back on my medication and with some decent sleep has done me a world of good.  I'm still not 100% (still a little anxious at times) but still, much, much better.  Friday night in particular was amazing, because I took two a/d's and a Benadryl and just crashed.  It was blissful to actually be able to sleep.

And Jerbs being gone wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Although I did feel bad for Max who was stuck at home with a mom who didn't particularly feel like doing anything all weekend; I pretty much just wanted to stay inside and rest.  I swear Max nearly had a heart attack when we picked Jerbs up from the bus station on Sunday evening, he was just so HAPPY.

So mentally things are improving and that's awesome.  I'm still pretty livid that I had to deal with this ridiculous setback at all but at the same time, I'm not going to let it define me.  I won't lie, I had a few moments where the "what ifs" spiraled out of control and I worried that I'd never get my medicine and then lose my job and then my car and never get well again and that this snafu would be the unraveling of everything I'd accomplished.  But that's completely not the case.  And I know that, so I'm working very hard to not let it get me down.  At least this time around I can say that it was absolutely not my fault at all; this had nothing to do with me being non-compliant or rebellious or in denial like I used to be, and everything to do with some stupid miscommunication between other people.  At this point I don't give a shit what happened as long as it gets fixed and doesn't happen again.

As great as mental health is, I think I'm getting physically sick.  I mentioned that there's some nastiness going around work right now--bronchitis or something similar.  Basically a week ago today the one co-worker I absolutely despise because he is literally the most wretchedly annoying person I've ever met came to work sick.  He proceeded to walk around the business office hacking like mad and never covering his mouth or using hand sanitizer (seriously, he's disgusting, and we watched).  But his boss (the CEO) wouldn't send him home, and when he told him to wear a mask, the gross co-worker insisted he wasn't sick.  And sure enough by Tuesday one co-worker was coughing, and by Wednesday two more were.  My office mate and I shut our door, disinfected our entire office space, and crossed our fingers.

Well, today, one sick co-worker was fine, one is better, and one has a doctor's appointment tomorrow because she thinks she has pneumonia.  PNEUMONIA.

So far I've managed to not get it but then this evening . . . I don't know.  I'm starting to feel under the weather.  I was OK until I got off work, but once I got home, all I wanted to do was go to bed.  I slept through DWTS, and you know it's serious if I miss that.

All I can say is that if I'm getting sick it best be out of my system by Halloween because on November 1st I'm going to Kingman for a certain darling nephew's 5th birthday party, which I really, really don't want to miss.  At the same time, I'm not going to be a dick and infect my family and a bunch of 5 year old kids with potential pneumonia.  So my fingers are crossed.

And btw, it's windy as all hell and freezing and doing something like raining outside right now . . . I love this weather, sick or not!

Cluster F Update # 2

Today I called my pharmacy and asked if it was possible that my script request had gone to Arkansas.  The guy basically laughed at me and told me it would have gone to the office it originated in, and then told me again that it had been denied by the doctor's office.  So I asked him who had denied it, because from what I've always seen, Rx denials/approvals have to be signed by the doctor doing it.  And he told me that they wouldn't have that information on file.  Um, what?  So I asked if he could give me the number it had been faxed to and he told me that that information wasn't available either because supposedly they delete denied requests as soon as they're denied.  Ummmm . . . yeah, I'm just gonna go ahead and put out there that not documenting things like this is incredibly irresponsible and probably illegal in some places.

I asked him again if he was sure he couldn't tell me who denied it and he got kinda snippy with me, and let me tell you that right now is just not the time for that, and I may have snapped a little.

I said to him, "So if I snap and kill myself this weekend because I'm out of my medication and my family decides to sue your pharmacy for incompetence, you'd have no way to prove that the doctor denied my prescription to cover your own ass?"  I usually think of really mean things to say to people providing shitty customer service and then scale it back to a less asshole-ish level but today . . . yeah.  Needless to say he had no response for that so after a very tense several second silence, I sarcastically told him he'd been very helpful and hung up.

Then I called my doctor's office, who told me that my request definitely wouldn't have gone to AR, but that it hadn't come to then either and that they genuinely have no clue what the pharmacy is saying.  At this point, I believe them.  So the girl I talked to took my prescription and pharmacy info. and said she'd get a message to the doctor  to just call in a new refill.  I told her it was urgent and she said she'd try to make sure it was called in today.

But, that didn't happen.  I called the pharmacy this evening and they hadn't been called, but they did offer to give me a 3 day supply just so I could get through the weekend.  It cost me 40 cents* and when I got home and opened the bottle, I found they'd given me 5 pills instead of 3.  Which has pretty much been the highlight of my week.

The new full script should be called in on  Monday, which is a tremendous relief.

This debacle has now taken 3 full freaking blog entries.  Ridiculous.  Is it really too much to ask that people whose jobs significantly effect other peoples' lives get their shit together?

*And naturally, I didn't have any cash on me whatsoever, and no change other than some random pennies at the bottom of my purse, so I had to put 40 cents on my freaking debit card.  Huuuuge pet peeve of mine!  I hate putting less than a dollar on my debit card, it's so stupid.