To top it all off, I have pink socks.

I wrote yesterday about my lovely new diagnosis. I was quite enamored with my newfound kidney stone planet. My sister and I cracked up over the hilarity of me finally getting to run my own universe. Yes, it was all fun and games until the doctor’s office and the hospital called to inform me of my co-pay for the procedure.

And then I fell over and died.

It started out happily enough…I guess that should have been my first clue. Dr. MIT’s office called to inform me that after verifying my insurance coverage, I would be responsible for $126. Pretty reasonable, I thought. In fact, I even said so to my friend who was sitting right there. Then, someone from the hospital called to inform me of what my share of the hospital charges would be. $997. (And change, but they disregard that and round down. How nice of them.) My ears started buzzing, my breath caught somewhere in my chest, and I had problems following the rest of the conversation. The lady who called with the news was so sweet. She made comforting small talk and cracked jokes about how she has the worst job in the world until I could find my voice again. Then she gave me the number for someone else at the hospital who could help me set up a payment plan.

But that’s not even the whole story. Oh, no. Instead of a planned playdate yesterday, I decided to be productive. I mowed my weeds yard while the girls played outside (which worked out quite nicely), treated 341 anthills, fed the girls a big brunch and started some laundry. Hooray productivity! And right about when my cheer went up is when the washing machine started making some god-awful noise. It sounded like a plane was starting up somewhere inside my washer. After spending 50 minutes on the phone with Sears Service (and being transferred to eight different people), I found out that a new motor would cost $360 and new bearings would cost $230. Plus a $65 service fee. A new washing machine from Home Depot would cost $320. My washing machine is 10 years old. It was an easy call.

So I rounded the kids up after Bee finished her nap and off we trekked to the Big Orange Store. Where the washer was on sale for $259! Hooray! Oops. Shouldn’t have said that. Because when I went home, I tried to squeeze in one extra wash. I had done a load of the girls’ clothes. And load of reds. The washer was noisy as all get out, but it was working. I checked on it every 5 minutes to make sure it wasn’t getting worse or leaking or collapsing into a pile of dust. I had one more load of clothes to do, and then I’d be good for a week.

It died near the end of the rinse cycle. So then I had a washer full of water and heavy soaking wet clothes. I wrung out most of the clothes and tossed them in the dryer. The heavy items (and delicates), I wrung out as best I could and hung on the clothes rack in the middle of the tub. Then I used a pitcher, then a cup, and finally a few towels to drain the water out. My back is killing me from the up-downs, but it worked. Except the one red shirt that has been fine in every wash for the past few years decides now to bleed all over my socks in the dryer.

The only question left is: what in the world is going to happen to me now if I dare buy a new package of socks? Nevermind. I’m too afraid to ask!

Tags: appliances, health, kidney stones, Life, surgery, washing machine