Beyond a Deductible

When I first knew I had to be admitted to the psych ward I was a bit taken aback by the amount I have to pay out of pocket as my deductible. Then I realized that my deductible, which is high, is actually going to cover my first day, and probably not all of that. Since I'm expecting to be there a full week, that changes the perspective on that.

What I did not realize is the amount of money it would cost in little things. As I said yesterday I have to buy clothes to have things that fit. I also need clothes because the casual things I'll need are things that I don't have many of in the best of times. I rarely have time that I dress for a number of days in casual clothes, and if I do have a week off I just do laundry. Now I'm having to purchase what I need. Unfortunately there are not nearly enough cheap things out there in this economy. I had really hard time last night trying to find pajamas that are what I want but either don't have ties or the ties can be removed. I finally found some, but bought the wrong size and have to trade them in. I hope. I don't remember if they had the next size up. I also had to (ok, wanted to but it makes a huge difference in how I sleep) have an appropriately sized weighted blanket. I had to buy slippers; I wear them all the time in the house and the ones I've had for 4 years now are worn out. I have to find some kind of hair product similar to what I use normally to take with me because I don't want to take the big container I have now with me and risk losing it since it's expensive, and it doesn't come in smaller sizes. And after all that I still need to buy some books to take along. I need to be prepared to have trouble sleeping between the whole new environment, being anxious about being there, and what my body is going to be going through. For now it looks like I'm going to be very tired most of the time, but that may change when I actually start Emsam.

And there are other costs to this. I will have no paycheck for 2 weeks. I'm not yet clear of my pre-existing condition clause on my short-term disability, so that period is just not covered. My mother thinks she'll be able to come feed and pet my cats, but if something changes I'll have to pay the pet-sitter to come up a few times. Since the one I use is the one my mom uses, she drives a reasonable distance to do this. However, I trust her and she really cares about the animals, so I'll continue to use her. There are extra counseling sessions, probably about 5 of them. There is gas to get to and from the hospital (which will be about a tank) and then to see Dr. Mind a few times while I'm off work, and possibly Dr. Brain will want to see me as well.

So the whole thing is no cheap venture. And of course other things keep popping up because money is tight; my iron broke yesterday and I seem to need a new patio door because mine is leaking. I also need the plumber to come for a drippy pipe. It's amazing how this all works.