Here There be Non-Story Updates…
This post has been delayed for reasons which are altogether too common, and still unique in their own way.
As most of you know, I have been unemployed for the last four months or so. I’ts been stressful, but we’ve been able to make due for some time. The changes since the move to KC mean that things have gotten far tighter far quicker than we had counted on or hoped for.
Normally, monetary stress would be the end of the discussion. However, because this is America, and because I don’t have insurance and can’t afford the exchange plans (we make ‘too much’), my medicine has run out and I can’t get it replaced.
To get a new prescription, to refill what I had, would require bare-minimum three hundred dollars. To seek out a regular psychiatrist, and go through that process, would tack an additional few hundred dollars on to the already high price-tag.
KC, however, has other plans for me. As it has continued to show over the last month, KC is where I have belonged this entire time. Within the city limits, there are at least five separate centers where low-income individuals and families can go to receive care. And it’s not limited to psychiatric care either. Dental Care, general physician, you name it. Outside of the need for a specialist, I have a whole suite of options.
That is so drastically different than my prior living arrangements. In Topeka, my options would have been… nothing. Yup, continue having my mind chew itself to death. That sounds like fun, right? No, no it doesn’t. The last week or so since the medicine ran out have been excruciating, and extremely dark and toxic thoughts have become a daily experience. If you haven’t experienced such things, please thank whatever powers you choose to believe in for your good fortune. I cannot express just how bleak and depressing it can get.
SO! Here I am. I have found a new opportunity to pursue treatment, and combined with some things which have also come to light since the move, I just might be able to make even more progress than I already have this year.
Thank you, powers that be, for the gift that has been Kansas City. It continues to deliver, and I am always amazed at just how much I keep finding.
Gratefully,
Justin
