Four months after deciding to move back to the Midwest, things are finally taking shape. Our house is mostly unpacked, I’m somewhat used to my job, and our daughter has a grown up bed, courtesy of an IKEA road trip. Plus, it’s a bazillion degrees and sunny out, and we live well inland. Things are looking up.
For those of you wondering about the fundraiser, it’s still very much on. The tally is at the same place it was in December. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of folks making monthly donations (thank you!), but that I add the full value of subscriptions to the tally at the time they’re made.
On of the hardest things about quitting my gig with New York State was losing health insurance for surgery. As I’ve said before, this was kind of a tease, given that I don’t know of any surgeons that accept insurance.
Given the low rates at which many insurance companies reimburse providers and the massive number of folks desperate for surgery, I don’t necessarily blame surgeons for being cautious with their finances.
In any case, I no longer have Blue Cross covering my hospital expenses, which means the cost (to me) of surgery is back in the much more typical range of $20-$25k (plus travel, pre-operative care, and unpaid time off work). Still, I stand by my decision to leave the academy (I’m sure I’ll be writing plenty about that at Shakesville or my other blog).
I’m cautiously optimistic that my new career in IT (coupled with the improving economy) will eventually make it possible for me to pay off past loans for medical expenses, or even save on my own. In the meantime, that’s the reason for the new goal on the right.
Needless to say, I’m pretty blown away that I’ve been able to raise what I already have. I wasn’t really expecting to raise the full amount I need (let alone doing so while taking an extended break), so I’ll see how it goes.
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