So things have moved forward quickly on the Tysabri front! I got a call from my insurance Tuesday along with the call from the Biogen people, and yesterday the Hateful Shrew called to give me the number to the infusion center and tell me to make an appointment. And no sooner did I get that call (and run around my company's office building for 6 hours of meetings, all in different rooms) that the infusion center themselves called! I missed that call too, somehow, but when I got home from work I called the Biogen people back and answered their questions and then called the infusion center and, lo and behold!, they had an appointment on Friday at 8:30 in the ay em.

So tomorrow I go in bright and early to get pumped full of The Green Goo that is Tysabri. (Actually, I know it's clear. It's just that the stuff has such a persona of its own that I imagine it as being a sort of fluorescent green goo. I don't know why... Perhaps because I am insane. Hard to say.)

ANYWAY...just wanted to give an update on the MS front and tell ya that I'll tell you all more tomorrow after the appointment! Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do while I'm sitting there for two hours: read a book? Play Ms. Pac-Man on my cell phone? Sleep? Maybe I'll just take a crossword and hope for the best...

Posted by Zee at 08:08 PM in Multiple Sclerosis | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I got a call from my health insurance today, letting me know that my Tysabri had been pre-approved. I spoke with my insurance folks for a while because, as an infused treatment, Tysabri is paid for out of my medical insurance benefit rather than my prescription medication benefit and I wasn't sure what that meant for my out-of-pocket costs. What I found out was this: it means a whopping $500 out of my pocket each year for this treatment... Guess I know now where my "economic stimulus" check is going: to stimulate Biogen's coffers. Sigh.

Still, I am grateful to have insurance that covers the majority of the cost; it really is a blessing and something I am mindful of whenever I look at my Explanation of Benefits statements my insurance sends. And I'm gratefuI that, as a result, I get to take advantage of this new, more effective medication!

Anyway, I also received a call today from the Biogen Idec people ("at the request of my doctor") to, I assume, schedule my first infusion. I didn't actually talk to these folks because my cell phone was turned to "silent" and I missed the call. However, I will call them back on Thursday (in back to back meetings all day tomorrow) and hopefully I'll get my first infusion within the next 30 days!

Stay tuned - I'll let ya'll know how it goes...

Posted by Zee at 09:34 PM in Multiple Sclerosis | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last Friday, one of the things I did was fill up my car's tank with gas. This month, thanks to the ever-increasing costs of gasoline in the country, I budgeted an extra bit of cash towards my gas costs. When I filled up on Friday, I had about a quarter tank left, leaving a little extra cash left over from what I'd budgeted.

Now, I could have reallocated that extra $6.93 towards miscellaneous expenses or groceries or whatever, but I decided to put that money towards one of my debts, with the thinking that every little bit helps. So this morning I "snowflaked" for the first time: I transferred $6.93 from my checking account to the overdraft line of credit that I ran up a while back when I wasn't paying sufficient attention and being lazy (this is pre-money-breakdown in September...)

Other than my student loans, this line of credit is the only item I owe on for which I can pay online, so this debt is going to be the first recipient of my "snowflakes" as I gather them up. My goal for May is to carve out $25 extra by "snowflaking" and put it towards the LoC. I'll report back next month on how I did.

Wohoo! (And for more on Snowflaking, click here.)

Continue reading "Snowflake #1, Plus a Bonus Report: the Neurologist Visit!" »

Posted by Zee at 05:45 PM in Money Stuff , Multiple Sclerosis | Permalink | Comments (3)

As often happens while I'm cleaning up the day's dishes, today while standing at the kitchen sink I had a bunch of phrases and blogworthyish thoughts pop into my head. What also often happens is that by the time I get back to my laptop I've forgotten said phrases or ideas. Today that's only half true. The thought I had while standing at the sink this evening was, "warm brownies with butter pecan ice cream on top is like a little piece of heaven right here on earth."

And then, right that minute (because I have no self-control) I served myself up a brownie (left-over from my visit w/ a friend on Sunday), heated it ever-so-slightly in the microwave and scooped the last bit of Haagen-Dasz Butter Pecan on top. And now I'm eating it and writing to you all about it and.. well... YUM.

So I don't have a lot to say tonight; no words of fiscal wisdom, no schemes for World Domination a la Pinky & the Brain, not even much in the way of "life events." But there are a few things I've been meaning to share and a couple things that have sprung up this week that I thought I'd blog about for your entertainment. Or mine. I'm not sure.

Continue reading "Scrapings from the Bottom of the Barrel" »

Posted by Zee at 08:44 PM in Cooking , Daily , Money Stuff , Multiple Sclerosis , Music | Permalink | Comments (4)

I found out today that I got a "special recognition" bonus at work for the project I worked on in March (the one that damn near killed me!) and while this is a great thing it also presents a bit of a quandry for me. Namely, how do I spend it?

On the one hand, putting all the money towards the debt puts me another step closer to being debt free. That's my ultimate goal: to get out of debt, completely, and start saving aggressively. On the other hand I've been so disciplined over the last few months about sticking to a budget that I'm feeling a bit strung out: I have enough money to pay the bills and other expenses, buy food and have a bit left over to "play," but I have to watch it all very closely.

So the idea of loosening up a bit and buying something frivolous or fun is appealing. And knowing myself, I think I'll have to do a little bit of both in order to feel satisfied. Because I don't know about you all, but I can only tolerate a few months of fiscal uber-rigidity before I crack and go off and do something really stupid: like spend the grocery money on a DVD I don't need. So I know I need to strike a balance of some kind...

Continue reading "Money Stuff: Striking a Balance" »

Posted by Zee at 09:20 PM in Money Stuff | Permalink | Comments (2)

So I promised some shots of the house-re-arrangement, and now that I have a little bit of time to sit on my heiny and surf the net, I figured I'd post some pretty pitchers for ya'll to see.

A couple weeks back, during my vacation, I put together a plan using Better Homes & Gardens' Arrange-a-Room tool and over the course of my vacation I managed to schedule an appointment to have a new cable outlet installed, clean the house and rearrange the room. I was a bit skeptical that the plan would work - since BHG's room tool sometimes makes it look like there's more space than there really is - but as I was so tired of my apartment being arranged as it was, I decided to give the new arrangement a shot.

And you know what? It worked out!!

Continue reading "Updates of the Household Variety" »

Posted by Zee at 10:53 AM in Daily , Miss Yorkie Princess | Permalink | Comments (1)

So. Tomorrow I get on a jet-plane and head back to my beloved Portland, to see my beloved doggie, and sleep between my beloved 300-thread-count sheets in my own beloved bed.

Can I tell you how happy I am to be going home?

It's not that I don't like Pittsburgh; I do. It's been lovely here, the weather has been great and it's been nice to be away from the majority of the day-to-day grind which my usual job entails. But, oddly enough, I like my job and I like my apartment (especially now that I've rearranged it - photos coming soon!!) and I like Portland. There's a reason I left Boston and went back home; and I miss my home and all the things about it.

Continue reading "Last Evening in Pittsburgh: Revelations, of sorts" »

Posted by Zee at 06:22 PM in Daily | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've had a headache - on just the right side of my head, right at my temple - for going on three days now. Sleep hasn't seemed to help; today I took allergy medicine, Drixoral, Excedrin, Maxalt (a migraine medication) and Advil and NONE of these remedies has done anything. (Worry not: I took them at one point or another throughout the day, not all at once!)

I am not amused.

Anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of this stupid pain?? I'd stand on my head at this point if I thought it might help... :-P

Posted by Zee at 06:21 PM in Daily | Permalink | Comments (6)

So the first two days of training have been mind-boggling. We're learning all about how to use and configure a special search engine, and like all things that are exceptionally customizable and powerful, it is extremely complex.

Thinking about this stuff all day yesterday was especially trying because I was exhausted: I'd slept poorly on Sunday night (on account of being in a new bed with low-thread-count sheets. I am so spoilt...) and I'd gotten up at what felt like 4 a.m. to my body, so by the middle of the day I was falling asleep and at the end of the day I had such a pounding headache I couldn't even think straight. Even after taking four Advil Liqui-Caps! I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. (EDT!) and aside from a couple of brief wake-ups in the middle of the night I slept all the way through until about 7:30 this morning. Much-needed rest.

The people training us are friendly and pleasant and have treated us to lunches out the last two days (yesterday was a local deli, today Thai) in addition to feeding us pastries and bagels and coffee and snacks throughout the day. I did hit that proverbial wall this afternoon but I am definitely (mostly) acclimated to the time zone now!

We're learning a lot about how to write XPath strings as well as becoming a bit more familiar with XSL. My web design experience is coming in quite handy in these areas, too.

Continue reading "Pittsburgh, Part II" »

Posted by Zee at 07:24 PM in Daily | Permalink | Comments (1)

So after a day of traveling and dealing with other people (ick!) I have arrived in the booming metropolis of Pittsburgh, checked into my hotel (where I received a "welcome packet" of Hershey's Cherry Kisses on account of my having signed up with the Marriott's rewards program a while back) and eaten dinner at P.F. Chang's with my colleagues. I'm too tired to write much (and I haven't seen much of Pittsburgh anyway) so I'll just say, "I'm here!" and sign off for now. Stay tuned for more adventures tomorrow.... assuming there are adventures to be had... :-)

(Oh, and I miss my puppy. There is no hope for me. Sigh... )

Posted by Zee at 07:27 PM in Daily | Permalink | Comments (1)