Updates You Didn't Know You Wanted

1. Costco

We recently got a Costco membership. We started buying one of Hannah the Dog's medications there because it was literally hundreds of dollars less than getting it at our local pharmacy (you can use the Costco pharmacy even without a membership).  Now, the nearest Costco from our house is about an hour away, so a Costco membership isn't exactly a perfect fit for our household, but we have to go every month for the dog's pills, so here we are.  I walked in the first time a few months ago and saw a 3-pack of Cetaphil hand soap for $19.99. I use Cetaphil because most hand soap irritates my eczema and Cetaphil is quite gentle and doesn't bother me if I wash my hands dozens of times a day, but it's so much more expensive than Softsoap. I was shocked at this price because it is $14.99 for a single 20-ounce dispenser at Walgreen's. I immediately reported to my husband that I thought we could save the $60 membership fee in hand soap alone and he acknowledged this information, but didn't really care much, so I let it drop. 

This went on a for a couple of months. But then came a month in which I could not go get the prescription myself and Dr. BB had to go. He saw the same deal on Cetaphil that I did and immediately started lobbying to get a membership. 

We went last week with our fancy new membership cards and spent $100. I thought I'd give you a brief rundown on where we saved money.

Cetaphil: $19.99 for 70 ounces versus $14.99 for 20 ounces (at Walgreen's), so that's 28.5 cents per ounce versus 75 cents per ounce - quite a big difference.

Listerine: $12.49 for 67.6 ounces versus $7.99 for 33.8 ounces (at Walgreen's), so that's 18.5 cents per ounce versus 23.6 cents per ounce - not as big a difference, but now I don't have to buy it for a long, long time.

Frozen chicken breasts (for Hannah): $18.49 for 6.5 pounds versus $12.49 for 3 pounds (at our local warehouse grocery store), so that's $2.84/pound versus $4.16/pound - this is a difference that makes a difference at the rate the dog eats chicken.

Eggs: $3.69 for 2-dozen cage free, certified humane versus $3.49 for 1-dozen cage free, certified humane (at our local warehouse grocery store), so that's 15.4 cents per egg versus 29 cents per egg - we are big egg eaters here, so this was a STEAL as far as we were concerned.

Gasoline: It was $3.35/gallon at the gas station in our town as we drove out of town, but $3.09 at Costco. We'd never drive all that way to fill up, but if we are there, we'll inevitably fill up the tank.

There were a couple of drawbacks to the store.  I didn't think the produce prices were all that much better than our local warehouse grocery store, but the pharmacy items and paper products looked insanely inexpensive to me. The biggest thing that came up for us was that a lot of products were not clearly labelled gluten-free, even if they probably were. They had an excellent price on butter (I can't remember, exactly, but I was quite thrilled by it), but the butter wasn't labelled as GF, although the ingredients looked safe. This is a pattern I've found at other stores, too (I would LOVE to shop at Trader Joe's or ALDI, but their labelling practices are atrocious), so I wasn't surprised by this, just a tiny bit disappointed. 

Overall, though, I definitely think we'll save the $60 membership fee within just a couple of trips. Mostly in hand soap.

2. I did call the veterinarian

I wrote a panicky post about how Hannah the Dog was in pain and what exactly I should do for her. The bad news is that she's still frequently crying in pain, but the good news is that it's much less often and less intense than it was last week. I did end up calling the veterinarian and she is Very Concerned. 

(This vet is the fancy neurologist vet. She had a dog who looked very much like Hannah and I'm convinced that's the reason she's so responsive to my phone calls. The one and only time I ever met her, she pulled out her phone and showed me pictures of her dog. Hannah and this dog I only know from photos could have been litter mates. The vet also told me that her dog was just as sweet as Hannah and so I trust this vet really does care about what happens to my little girl.)

So, just for a quick reminder. Hannah has an infection in her spine that is visible in very expensive imaging. Unfortunately, it's in a place that is difficult to biopsy, so it's unclear if it's bacterial or fungal. She was on a course of antibiotics for nine or ten months when the imaging showed increased levels of infection. We took her off those antibiotics about a month ago because they obviously weren't working  and she's been on an anti-fungal for a couple of months (this is the medication we go to Costco for). The vet has suggested we try a NEW antibiotic, in addition to the anti-fungal, but this one is only available through veterinarian supply places, so I just ordered a 40-day supply from Chewy for $145. The vet keeps telling us that discospondylitis should be treatable and we just have to be patient and wait for the right medication, but it's very hard to have that level of patience since with every day that passes, Hannah's spine is degenerating and hundreds of dollars are regularly flying out of my checking account.

(I was less panicked about Zelda in that post, but still had some anxiety about how she had turned into a cuddle monster. I wrote the exact same thing about her in February of 2017, so I'm convinced she just turns a corner at some point during the winter and wants to be warm again. Who can blame her? I'm going to put my worries about the kitty on the back burner.)

3. Back pain

In terms of my own back pain, things are slowly getting better. I still have pain at night, but by the time I've spun the dog around the block in the morning, it's gone. It's much less intense than before and it doesn't tend to bother me during the day. I think if I continue to be careful with my movements and keep up with the PT exercises, this will be a thing of the past soon enough. At some point in January, I did a HIIT workout and was in pain the next day and when I told the physical therapist about it, I could see him simultaneously want to roll his eyes and smack me.  I have been rather forcefully told to rein it in for WEEKS after the last of the pain before I do high-impact again. 

For those of you who were interested, I did two sessions of dry needling. In each session, I could feel IMMEDIATE relief of the muscle that was wound up tight. By the time I left the PT office, that relief was lessened and I could feel it tightening up again, but I slept so well on those nights. Since the procedure was done in conjunction with exercises and stretches, it's hard to say exactly how effective it was, but I think I would generally recommend it, particularly if your PT has had training in it.

I chose dry needling because I will do just about anything to avoid strangers touching me. The PT tried his best to avoid touching me too much, but the idea of massage makes me sick to my stomach. I know Jenny is a massage therapist and I know they do so much good for so many people, but when the PT told me my options were massage or dry needling, it wasn't much of a choice for me. He also recommended foam rolling as an option for someone with me with these types of issues. 

4. Unnecessary panic

Our garbage day is Thursday.  I have an alarm set on my phone to remind us to take out the trash on Wednesday night and since we have moved into our house, we have never once missed a garbage day. (Knock on wood, I guess.)

But on Wednesday mornings, a garbage truck drives by our house just before my alarm goes off and every Wednesday morning, I sit bolt upright thinking that I have somehow forgotten. I just thought I'd share this little insight into my world.

5. Job search

Things at my job have gotten slightly better, but they are still not great. I continue applying to jobs that match my skillset, although I haven't had much luck since I got an interview quite early on. In the meantime, it's a good place to be looking for jobs when I already have one. There have been quite a few times when I've wondered if I should just quit and get a job at the flower shop down the street, but I'm not there just yet. Fingers crossed something comes up soon.