It's not Friday....

beachyone15

@AuroraRose41 - I'm sorry. That's tough. Hopefully the injections will help. I'll keep you in my thoughts for sure!

MissKittyDanger

@minskat30  yay Raj!

@aurorarose41  *hugs*

@swazzle scary but hopefully it'll turn out okay! Remember to breath!

bethsmiles

@Swazzle - oh no! Lots of positive work vibes!

GoldenPenguin

@swazzle - you need a bottle of wine tonight!

While I'm certainly not trying to put down travel agents, I had a wonderful - and cheaper - experience booking my honeymoon without one. My MIL was really pushing us to use her travel agent, and all the packages she sent us just didn't seem all that great, so I did research on my own and found the package we got through the resort. Fast forward to our recent Thanksgiving trip to the Dominican, which was all done through a travel agent, and it was a total and complete shit show. The resort wasn't great, everything was screwy with flights and transportation, etc., and it was far more expensive than what I could have done on my own. This agent is someone that H's family has used multiple times in the past, but she was just HORRIFIC this time around.  

Peaseblossom55

@swazzle Oh no! I hope everything is ok.

AuroraRose41

Thanks everyone. I really hope it works out too. I am having so much trouble focusing at work today.

@swazzle sending tons of vibes. I hope everything is okay.

jenjen047

@Swazzle - Vibes!! That sounds really scary.

@bethsmiles - I just saw your ticker....holy  crap I can't believe it's already at 7 months!!

Apparently I have very wide calves. I can never find boots that fit! Anyone have recommendations? I need at least 17" shaft circumference (hehehe that sounds naughty). My current boots are great but they have zippers/hardware on the outside so when I cross my legs it digs into my skin. Me no likey.

labro

@Swazzle OMG! I hope everything is all right! Hugs!

@bethsmiles My SIL did a week long trip to Costa Rica a few years ago and LOVED it! There's the beach, but then there are tons and tons of outdoorsy adventure stuff to do too.

@minskat30 YAY! I am so glad Raj finally peed! Poor baby! We have Cinders on grain-free food too and she doesn't get any chicken (vet said it was a pretty common allergen). We think her allergies are more to just about anything and everything outdoors because she is a major paw licker, especially when seasonal allergies are particularly bad.

lavenderfields13

@AuroraRose41 HUGS that sucks  Has anything worked for your dad's issue?

@Swazzle Hugs for you as well! 

AuroraRose41

@minskat30 glad to hear Raj is improving hopefully!

@lavenderfields13 unfortunately nothing has. The doctor at least kept that in mind and prescribed me a medication that my dad can't get insurance approval for. I have a different health plan and maybe they will approve it for me. My dad says that is the one he needs, so if I can get that one there is a chance that it could improve. If the insurance won't cover it, then I will have to figure out how to pay $600-800 a month out of pocket or deal with this for years, possibly the rest of my life. 

lavenderfields13

OMG I hope the insurance will cover it for you! That is ridiculous. Insurance companies suck. Has your dad done appeals trying to get his insurance to cover it? 

Swazzle

Thanks so much everyone


@jenjen047 - I also have wide calves. My favorite boots are Sam Edelman Penny and they come in wide. I think they're 17" exactly. 

@AuroraRose41 - HUGS

wink0erin

@AuroraRose41 I am so sorry to hear that. I hope the treatments work and I hope insurance covers it. It's ridiculous that insurance companies try their best to not pay for things that are needed by patients. Nerve troubles are no joke, the pain is intense. I hope they are just aggrivated and it heals up. 

AuroraRose41

@lavenderfields13 he has been fighting with them for it, but no luck so far. Is it bad that I am wondering if FI and I should move to a country with better healthcare so that I might have a chance of getting this medication? Even the doctor said approval is rare and to let him know if it doesn't get approved. 

AuroraRose41

@wink0erin thank you. It really is ridiculous. It does explain why I feel like I can't use my ankle/foot and feel unstable. My dad can't use his entire left arm. I just hope this heals faster than his arm. 

Medicines are cheaper in Canada right? Maybe FI and I should move there. We can handle the cold. We practically went to college in Canada. Edit: Seriously. The border was about 20 minutes away and the closest major cities were Montreal and Ottawa.

jenna8984

@aurorarose41 That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that and hope you get some help!

@jenjen047 Nope, she gets a commission from the resort not from the clients.

@goldenpenguin that stinks, sorry you had a bad experience in DR. Some of my mom's coworkers are younger and less experienced and tend to just say "sure everyone likes this resort" and not cater it to the client's needs. I've had opposite experiences with my mom, I will look up hotels on tripadvisor and tell her to book them and then she says "nope, that location sucks" or some other reason and she ends up booking me a way better one lol. Also have to compare apples to apples, some people think well this trip I found to Cancun is $2500 and the travel agent's is $4000 but the person doesn't realize they are looking at a hotel 2 tiers lower and flights with 14 hour layovers, ya know?

wink0erin

@AuroraRose41 Are there any government agencies that could help you if insurance does not approve the medicine? In my state there is Rehabilitation Services which helped me get some items insurance wouldn't cover... I don't know if they would help with medication or not but maybe it's something you (and your dad) could look into. Their whole goal as an agency is to keep people working or get them back to work, but I don't know if they exist in every state or if they would cover things like medicine. (I know they cover adaptive equipment that gets people working/functioning at home).

AuroraRose41

@wink0erin I honestly have no idea. I will look into it!

KeptInStitches

@peaseblossom55, break a leg!

@labro, hope Cinders feels better soon!

@jenjen047, we used generic thank-you notes and wrote as many before the wedding as possible - I think all the notes were out no later than a week after.

@minskat30, I'm glad Raj peed and I hope he starts feeling better soon.

@bethsmiles, we went to DC because there was a ton of stuff to do. H and I are suckers for museums.

@cocobellaf, can I have a donut, too?

@aurorarose41, I'm sorry your MRI didn't turn up anything and I hope they figure out how to help you soon.

@swazzle, vibes for your work.

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We decorated for Christmas last night! Pics are in the AW Christmas thread. Tonight we're going to wrap Christmas presents (and this time I mean it) and watch football. I want to keep looking for our tree topper, too - we have a beautiful twisted wire star and I can't find it. I'm also in the market for a dimmer for the tree lights - it came prelit with LEDs and they're ... bright. Very bright. I'd like to tone them down.

Otherwise I'm mostly looking forward to tomorrow night when we're going to a sing-a-long performance of The Messiah (Christmas choruses and Hallelujah).

AlPacina

@wink0erin - I hope those latkes are as delicious as you are building them up to be! Is your present a chameleon?!?

@minskat30 - Yay pee!

@AuroraRose41 - I'm so sorry that your pain doesn't have a more obvious and practical solution. I don't have any chronic pain, but I can only imagine the effect it has on your dad's life. I really hope this won't end up being the case for you!

@Swazzle - That sounds so scary! Good luck with everything at work. I really hope you can manage to relax tonight.

@jenna8984 - I will be calling your mom for my next vacation! Then again, I'm one of those people that will always pay more if I know I'm getting a better experience.

Peaseblossom55

@keptinstitches Thanks!  The sing-a-long sounds like so much fun.

Peaseblossom55

So many hugs @aurorarose41

GoldenPenguin

@AuroraRose41 - I'm sorry they don't have a better solution for you I'm also super angry with doctors right now, so I feel some of your frustration. 

jenjen047

@swazzle - Thank you!

@aurorarose41- Crossing all my fingers and toes and everything else that you get approval. When do you think ou will have an answer from insurance?

AuroraRose41

@jenjen047 hopefully today. FI is going to drop off the prescription on his lunch break (so in a few minutes), and we will see what happens when the pharmacy tries to fill it. 

minskat30

@swazzle - That sounds terrible.  I hate talking to lawyers and I'm a lawyer so that doesn't speak highly for most of us I guess.  Hugs.  I hope everything is ok.  

@aurorarose41 - That sounds awful!  I'm so sorry you are going through this.  

minskat30

@bethsmiles - For AI, we went to Le Blanc in Cancun for our honeymoon and it was really, really nice for an AI.  We've also done the Secret resorts in Mexico and Excellence resorts in Mexico (they were nice too but not as nice as Le Blanc).  For non-AI one of our favorite resorts is Capella Ixtapa.  I never posted my videos of it online but the views were amazing as was the room (private plunge pool!) and food.  Here is one of the views from the main pool... which was empty every time we went other than people willing to get you food/drinks/towels/etc.

audrewuh

Hugs, @swazzle. I hope it all resolves pretty quickly and easily. 

@minskat30 - I'm so glad Raj has peed!! Huzzah!! You're the best puppy mommy ever, sleeping with him overnight. He's lucky to have you. 

@bethsmiles we used a travel agent for our honeymoon and it was worth it only because he got us a pretty solid deal on hotels and put us in great locations. I went to book another trip through him a year later and it was just cheaper to do it myself. Did you say whether you were looking for beach/relax or city/adventure? 

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Like @beachyone15, it's my Friday. I'm ditching out here in a few to head down to Houston for the weekend. My friends' and their new chorus are debuting in a Christmas show Saturday. H just pointed out that my mom will probably be there, but luckily it's at my alma mater and I know more back hallways and exit routes in the building than she's aware of. Vibes I can avoid her if she shows up, plz. 

Other than that, the new Serial came out this morning. I've already listened to it. Anyone else paying attention to it this season?

minskat30

@audrewuh - Thank you.  All the vibes for avoiding your Mom.  I've never heard of Serial.  It sounds fascinating now that I've Googled it though. 

bethsmiles

@audrewuh - We'd like to do somewhere tropical but still have lots of options for things to do. We're not really sit on the beach people. I'm definitely thinking we should look into using a travel agent.

@minskat30 - That view is amazing!