Just one of those days

Ah I swear, could today get any longer? Honestly, I'm not overly stressed out, but if more things happen then I *might* just possibly have a reason to freak out.

I guess it all started last night. My sister called, and from the tone of her voice I could tell that something was wrong. She told me all about her visit earlier that day to the neurologist. I knew immediately it couldn't be the best of news, because it really sounded like she was fighting back tears. She had been all set to hear her neurologist tell her that her medication was working great, and that she wouldn't need to see him for another year. Unfortunately it seemed as though he had just the opposite to say. He told her that the lesions on her brain had not gotten better, and that she had a few new lesions on her brain and on her spinal cord. The medication she is on is basically supposed to suppress her immune system, but it seems that it is not effectively doing that. The neurologist was very surprised when she told him that she hasn't had so much as a sniffle in over a year. I guess he realized from that information that the drug she's taking couldn't really be doing a good job of suppressing her immune system. He's given her the option of taking a couple of other drugs, but of course each one comes with its share of side effects. One drug is usually used for cancer patients, and will completely shut down her immune system. It has also been known to cause infertility, as well as possibly cause cancer later in life. The other drug seems like a better option, but in the beginning stages of drug trial it actually killed a few people. I swear it seems like a no win situation. It's either take one of these extreme drugs, or risk the chance that her MS will become aggressive and do God only knows what to her body.

Sigh.

Moving on, today I decided to take the morning off to get my oil changed. I figured that hopefully I would get a call to sub in the afternoon, and that by having an early morning appointment, it would be no problem. You know, whenever my plans seem quite logical, something always goes wrong. There is always a monkey wrench thrown in the mix. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night, but I dragged myself out of bed. As I was getting ready to leave, I heard my mom call to me. She asked me oddly if I could stop by the store and get her Benadryl. She uses this Benadryl sinus allergy stuff when she gets headaches, and I was pretty irritated because I remember that she bought some at the grocery store only a couple of days ago. When I asked her if it could wait until I get home, she came in my room and pulled up her pant leg, showing me that her leg was covered in hives. I at that point suggested that she take some of my Claritin, because it has always worked well for me when I get hives. So she decided to call the doctor to ask him if it were alright for her to take it with the other drugs she has been currently taking for her sinus infection. The doctor asked her to come that morning because he thought she was having a reaction to the sulfa drugs he had put her on.

What did this mean? It meant I had to reschedule my oil change for the afternoon so that I could take her to the doctor. Of course she couldn't help that she had broken out in hives, but it definitely meant I wasn't going to be able to take a job for the afternoon. Which was really fine, it wasn't a huge deal. When we got to the doctor's office, I was a little irritated that he didn't really give her a thorough exam. I mean, he looked at her arms and legs for a total of two seconds and then said "Yes, yes, this is a reaction to the sulfa drugs. Go ahead and stop taking it, and you'll be fine. If you want to take some Benadryl, it's fine, but the hives will go away without it." Okay good, fine. Is it so much to ask that a doctor spend five whole minutes examining you? This is part of my desire to seek another profession. Anyway, that isn't really the point. The point is, the doctor told my mom she could go ahead and keep taking the antihistamine/decongestant combo he had given her, but to stop taking the sulfa drugs.

Now let's skip forward again. The early afternoon comes, and I take my car to the local Honda dealership to have an oil change. I had a coupon for an oil change, filter change, and winter inspection for only $12.95, so I figured I'd go ahead and take it to the dealer. I was in need of an oil change, but I probably would have put it off for another couple of weeks had it not been for the fact that I had plans to go to Grand Rapids and Muskegon for the weekend. I was planning on visiting a friend in GR and visiting Jenn in Muskegon. Well, those plans had been ruined yesterday, when Jenn called me to tell me that the weather forecast for western Michigan was calling for possibly 4 to 6 inches of snow, plus freezing rain, and that it wouldn't be a good idea for me to drive in that. Which was unfortunate, because I was really looking forward to a weekend away from here. Anyhow, since I had already scheduled my oil change in anticipation of taking a road trip, I kept the appointment.

My car has been making a bit of a squeaking noise when I back it up. The noise never occurred when coming to a stop, but started happening when I was in reverse. Since the noise only occurred when in reverse, I wasn't sure if it was the breaks or not. While the oil was being changed, one of the service guys came out to go over the inspection results of my car. All the fluids looked great, except for my break fluid. He showed me the pH test he did, and light purple indicates that the fluid needs to be changed. Mine was at bright purple. A full flush and change of the fluid is somewhere around $150! Seriously, I knew it was probably time for that, but geez, why does it need to be so expensive? Luckily he said I could put it off until after Christmas without any dire consequences. Also, he said the output for my battery should be around 410, and my battery's output was only 210. So guess who needs a new battery as well? He went on to tell me they could do the battery for somewhere around $150 as well. Luckily my dad says he can install the battery for me, and he won't charge me for labor! The new battery should be much less than $150, thankfully. Okay, great, fine and dandy. I asked him at that point if the break fluid could be causing the squeaking noise. Since he hadn't put my car in reverse, he hadn't heard the squeaking, but he looked at me rather funny when I explained the noise. He went on to tell my that my breaks had something called a "squealer" on them. It is a piece of metal that is designed to make noise as a warning when the breaks need attention. He said that the way Honda designs it, it only generally makes noise when you are in reverse, but that it means that your break pads are only at about 3%. He had a guy take my break pad off so that "we" could see the type of wear and tear it had. Yeah, I didn't need to be a mechanic to see that it was worn down to nothing. The break pads unfortunately can not wait, and is not something my dad can do. For the low price of $136, I'll be getting my break pads replaced on Monday morning. Which means my money going bye bye, and also not being able to work on Monday, and thus not getting paid.

Boo. My car is seven years old and besides for having to have the muffler replaced and that random O2 sensor thing that occurred in the fall, I haven't had any problems with it. I suppose I should be grateful that the only thing wrong is basic maintenance things... but do they all have to occur at once? Geez.

Skip forward again to late this afternoon. I was at home and had just started what I like to call, my Oprah nap. (Seriously, something about the Oprah show quietly playing in the background is the best way to get a good nap in.) My mom of course came bursting in right when I had started to fall asleep. Her hives had returned, and were ten times worse. I asked her if she had taken the sulfa drugs again, but she said no, and explained that she took the antihistamine/decongestant the doctor told her to keep taking. So it turns out that she isn't allergic to the sulfa drugs after all, that she's actually allergic to the other drug. She woke me up to ask me to go to Walgreen's and get her Benadryl. We didn't get any while we were out because the doctor told her it wasn't necessary if she didn't want to bother with it. Now her hives were so bad that it really was necessary. What else could I do but change out of my pajamas, pull my coat on, and drive to Walgreens? (Actually, there is a Rite Aid right down the street and I thought it was quite stupid that she insisted on me going to Walgreens, so I went to Rite Aid instead.)

Well, my mom is okay, and my car is holding up. And thankfully, today is almost over. Guess what else? I think I'm taking tomorrow off. I could use the break after today's marathon.