It's all so much better in Santa Fe

Yesterday I had a bit of a health care crisis.  Today I'll be taking two buses and a .4 mile hike though an empty field to urgent care.  I have a fever. I have a very painful infection in my sinuses that has now apparently spread to my throat and my ear.  I am not happy.

Over the past couple years it's been harder and harder to access health care here in Albuquerque.  That despite three large hospital systems.  The healthcare offices are understaffed, and many are now located off the bus lines. One major hospital closed down and moved to Rio Rancho.  Getting in to see a doctor is getting harder and harder.  Right now the best location for me to see a doctor is one bus and a .4 mile walk.  It's hard to get there when I'm sick.  And also not often available to me, because the PCPs are not available every weekday, and because they're so heavily overbooked that it takes at least a week to see them.

After another sleepless night, I spent some time this morning (around 1 or 2 am) looking at my healthcare options in Santa Fe.  I'll be changing not only my doctor, but my health care plan.  The hospital (and doctor's office building) will now be 2.4 miles away from the apartment complex, and take 8 minutes by bus.  There is an urgent care facility there.  And the bus runs every day but Sunday.

At this point, it seems that there's one more reason to be there instead of here.

BTW, the gym that takes Silver Sneakers is on the same street, between the house and the hospital. During summer months I'll be able to walk (or run) to the gym.

I've had a lot of fear about this move, but it seems that everything is pushing me in this direction.  Even if the apartment is total crap, the benefits of living in that complex at this point so far outweigh the fears and concerns that I kinda wish I'd done this day one.

Thursday I ended up borrowing money from my son-in-law to pay for uncovered options on my kids' glasses.  Cay now wears bifocals.  She's only 18.  Of course at that age, I also wore bifocals.  Now next month I have to come up with the $200 to pay for Cay's tuition downpayment (if I pay by March 15th, she gets a $2800 discount on her tuition for early decision) and the $100 to pay my son-in-law back.  He's been unemployed since moving to Tallahassee, so that was a big chunk for him and Ellen to come up with to help us out this month.

Thursday, sick as I was, I still had to go to the food pantry because we were so short on food.  We did get some milk and a package of ground chicken in addition to a jar of peanut butter, a can of beans, and two cans of veggies... but once again most of what we were given was bread.  They gave everyone a CASE of tortillas, so I have enough tortillas in the freezer to last until we move in June.   Yesterday some of the staff at the office chipped in and got me a gift card from Smiths as a thank you for some of the extra work I've been doing around the office.  I was so grateful for that for two reasons:  First, because I only have $3.22 left to my name after Thursday's doctor visit.  Second, because it's just nice to have someone recognize the work.

I sent Cay out to the store with the card, and she got me some protein bars, an decongestant (not the one the doctor recommended, because the pharmacist wouldn't let her buy the medication without a state issued ID) and some tylenol. Unfortunately she bought brand name tylenol, which took up a HUGE chunk of the available money.

And while she had to take a bus out (1/2 mile to bus stop, about 30 minutes on the bus) to Smiths, in Santa Fe the Smiths is about 1/2 mile from the apartment.

Yup, I see life getting  a whole lot easier in Santa Fe:

A- Approximate location of apartment
B- Smiths
C- Medical office building... the pink at the edge of the map is the hospital.
D- Gym
...and that big square where the "St M" and "Self S" is in "St Micheal's Self Storage":
 The university where Cay will go to school