Convergence

Wow, I feel like I have a myriad of events/expenses that are converging in on me in a very expedited timeline, let me explain.

I have been waiting for the shoe to drop on the medical expenses associated with my cardiologist and skin cancer procedures in May.  I had not received a co-pay bill yet, until yesterday.  It looks like my out of pocket for just the skin cancer stuff will be four digits.  I am hoping I won’t be seeing additional bills from the cardiologist as well since they have that unwelcome practice of “estimating” and collecting your portion of the bill up front.  That practice quickly exhausted the funds I had set aside in my medical flex spending account for the entire year.

As told earlier, I went for the consult with the surgeon regarding the small protrusion in my lower abdomen.  In about 10 seconds he told me with 100% certainity I had a hernia.  My two options were to fix it now or fix it later as over time it will worsen, the variable is how fast which depends on the individual and the circumstances they are in.  Because high effort activities are pretty ingrained into my DNA I told him I would rather get it done sooner rather than later.

He recommended a mesh repair.  Hernia mesh has a horrible reputation due to two companies that were selling defective product years back.  There are several class action law suits about it.  I told him that was my biggest concern of course, long term complications.  He assured me the mesh he uses is great.  In 13 years of doing hernia surgeries he said he has never had one of these meshes fail.  The other advantage to going this route is it is an outpatient procedure requiring only three small holes in my stomach.  The recovery timeline is far better as well.  A friend of mine who teaches karate had a mesh repair done several years ago and echoed these results, minimal impact and quick recovery.

So I got the ball rolling on this for two reasons.  I am the type of person that when faced with something shitty to do I always would prefer to get it over with sooner rather than later.  The earlier this is done, the less opportunity it has to get more problematic.  Secondly, since I already have far exceeded my medical deductible this year, I figured I may as well do this now where less money will come out of my pocket.  I made sure to push the procedure into mid-August after I am back from my two trips.

In other expensive news, the installation timeline for my window replacement just got yanked forward.  As recently as last week I got a call stating the install should take place some time in August.  Today I got a call saying “hey, your windows are built, can we come next Tuesday?”  That timeline is somewhat problematic but again my yearning to get things done sooner rather than later kicked in.  I told them it was ok to come, meaning I will be working from home to babysit the process Tuesday and Wednesday.

Of course this also means the remaining payment for the windows will be coming due much sooner than expected, the biggest home expense I have had since putting the metal roof on the house.  I could throw it onto the home equity line of credit but I would like to pay that off sooner rather than later so I am just going to pay for this all at once out of pocket, a massive expense.

I also have been putting the wheel in motion (pun  intended) to get a new electric unicycle, a very expensive one.  I plan to offset that expense substantially by selling at least one if not two of my other PEVs, but still, it will be a chunk of change.  I actually have had another wheel reserved since last August.  I told the dealer to cancel the order today, partially because I am sick of waiting partially because of the call about the windows install moving up. Finally, I have the two trips coming up within the next month.  I don’t expect either one to have massive expenses associated with them but traveling is never exactly cheap. I nearly forgot I have a $3000 Tesla repair within the next month as well.

So anyway the logistical and financial demands on me over the next 45-60 days are going to be steep.  I’m more than capable of navigating my way through to calmer waters, it’s just a matter of keeping my head up and brain engaged.