Right Now

So this is what’s been going on in my life lately:

A few weeks ago, my wife had to get surgery again.  This is her third operation in three years.  In 2015 she had to go to the emergency room for diverticulitis (blog here).  Last year she had to get part of her thyroid removed.  This month’s surgery was for a hernia that developed as a result of the 2015 operation.

Money is extremely tight.  I am almost done paying off the medical bills from the 2015 and 2017 operations, but right now I’m getting bombarded with bills from this year’s procedure.  I’ve had to call a ton of different offices to arrange monthly payments for different balances.  Plus, of course, my wife can’t work right now.  She took a full month off work (without pay), so we’re out her income for that time period.  I make enough money to pay all the bills, but that’s about it.  We rely on her income to pay for groceries, gas, and other sundries.  So we’re going to be living on Ramen noodles for a few months.

I’ve got the bill schedule worked out, for the most part.  We’ll be doing slightly better by the end of November, and things will continue to improve each month.  By March I should have all the medical bills paid off, maybe sooner.  It’s mostly just getting through the next month that’s going to hurt.

When she had the emergency three years ago, we started a GoFundMe to help with the bills.  I’m not going to do that this time.  I’m still embarrassed about doing it last time.  But we are in just as bad shape as we were then.  I laugh it off on Facebook, but things are bad.

Finances aside, it’s been a difficult month.  She’s in terrible pain, but she’s improving.  At least this time she doesn’t have a huge open wound we have to take care of.  I’m having to do more around the house, which is fine except for the cat boxes.  My problem is two-fold:  I am allergic to the dust, and I am easily grossed out.  Sure, fine, call me a wimp, I deserve it.  But I’ve never been able to get used to that aspect of cat ownership.  I try, I really do.  But when scooping cat litter, I find it very hard not to throw up.  Combine that with my allergies, and I’m just a sniffling nauseated mess for hours afterward.

And then of course there’s the car.  One of our cars is having engine problems.  It looks like it might be an easy fix, but I simply don’t have the time, money, or energy to think about it right now.  I don’t care if it’s a $15 part I can install myself (and it might be).  I just can’t deal with it until life normalizes a bit.  I still start it twice a week so the battery doesn’t die, but that’s all I can commit to right now.  The good news is that our other car works just fine, and my wife can’t drive right now anyway, so there’s no vehicle conflicts.  Not that there would be, since she works at home.

And of course, I’ve got a few health issues of my own, that I keep having to put on the back burner.  If we can just have two years in a row where my wife doesn't need surgery, maybe I'll have the money to look into my own problems.  God I hate our capitalist medical system.

One of our cats had a stroke earlier this year.  She’s okay now, but she’s on a special diet and medication.  Yet another expense.  Also, we’ve had to separate her from the rest of the cats, so she has her own room now.  This house is small enough as it is, but one bedroom has been designated for a single cat.  I’ve had to put some of my hobbies on hold for a while because of it, due to the space limitations.  I love that cat, but it’s asking a lot.

It’s not just money, it’s sanity.  Some RPGs have “sanity points” that can be lost or gained, and going over a certain threshold can have major repercussions for your character.  When talking about depression, people often use the spoon analogy – that you wake up with a certain number of spoons, and doing certain activities costs a certain number of spoons.  When you’re out of spoons, you simply don’t have the energy to deal with anything else that day.

Changing the cat litter costs me a lot of sanity points/spoons.  I could probably get a few back if I could find some time to relax with my hobbies, but those aren’t doable right now.  The time I do spend relaxing right now is ruined by anxiety – How long am I going to get to sit here?  Do I even have time to load up a video game or get my paints out?

And then there’s everything going on in the world today.  Politics are hitting home in a way that they never have before.  I don't really want to rant about politics right now, but the government is worse than it's ever been in my lifetime.  Look, it's no secret that I'm a liberal democrat, but I used to be able to tolerate the Republican party.  For me, politics has always been about voting for the lesser of two evils.  Sometimes your party doesn't win, but life goes on.  But this administration is making mistakes too big to ignore.

Donald Trump isn't a Republican.  He's just an asshole.  And too many Republicans like him just for not being a Democrat.  If you voted for Trump, I forgive you.  But the best thing you can do right now is admit you were fooled.  If you still support Trump after all the racist, misogynist, transphobic, classist crap he's done, then I know it's for one of three reasons:

1. You're completely avoiding the news, or you're in such incredible denial that you think Fox News is the only credible source of current events.

2. You'll vote for anyone with an "R" next to their name.  Fine, be that way, but I never want to hear the phrase "yellow dog democrat" again.  EVER.

3. You are such a self-centered bigot that you don't care who gets hurt as long as they aren't a white male like yourself.

Dear Republicans:  You can still be a good Republican and hate Donald Trump.  I promise you, you can.  He is making your party look bad.  I truly believe that he's going to go down in history as one of the worst presidents ever, but the Republican party doesn't have to go down with him.

Nixon is often said to be "the most popular president nobody voted for."  But you won't be able to deny you voted for Trump like you did with Nixon, not when we can just scroll down your Facebook feed and find all your pro-Trump memes.  If you care at all about what your grandchildren think of you, withdraw your support now.

These next elections could literally decide the fate of the world.  I’ve already voted in this one.  If you haven't voted yet, please consider voting Democrat.  I don't care if you're Republican - remember, Trump isn't.  Trump is just Trumpican.  I've heard several former Republicans say variations of the following lately: "I didn't leave the Republican party, the Republican party left me."

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but if Republicans really want the Republican party to survive, they need to vote Democrat in the next few elections.   If the Republicans start losing by a landslide over the next few years, maybe they'll get the message.  Maybe instead of being so openly bigoted, they'll go back to just being what they used to be.  But they need a wake-up call first.  They need to know that Republican voters won't take it.

I promise you, the world isn't going to end if the Democrats get in power again.  Let the Republicans earn it back, by transforming their party back into something less extreme.

But that's all wishful thinking on my part. I don't know if people have changed, or if they're just less shy about their true colors now.  I see all the pro-Trump posts on Facebook, and it absolutely amazes me the things people aren't afraid to say.  If Trump were impeached tomorrow, it still wouldn't make a difference to me, because now I see the world differently.  

I am severely depressed.  This is not the world I want to live in.  These are not the people I want to think of as fellow Americans.  When did we go from "Great American Melting Pot" to "Caucasians are the master race?"  Why is it okay to appoint a rapist to the Supreme Court, but transgender people aren't even allowed to use the bathroom?  Why is bigotry considered acceptable behavior now? 

Despite all the crap going on, overall I'm pretty lucky.  We have decent medical insurance, with an annual out-of-pocket maximum that keeps us from going bankrupt.  Best case scenario, we’re currently even.  Maybe we can find the money for actual groceries, or maybe we have to eat nothing but canned beans and Ramen until Christmas.  But I’ve got the bills covered, and we will survive.

But here’s the thing:  Absolutely nothing else can go wrong until March.  I’ve used up all my backup money, called in all my favors, redeemed all my freebies.  If our primary car has suddenly develops an engine problem, we’re sunk.  If our refrigerator dies, we’re sunk.  If another one of our cats has a vet emergency, we’re sunk.  Sure, some of these emergencies could be financed, but I won’t have the money to make the monthly payments.  We are going to have to be very lucky to make it to March.