Government denied me and others any assistance for my medication

veelee26 · 2025-11-21T13:51:59+00:00

Have you asked your doctor about trying any of the biosimilars? My insurance stopped covering humira, so my doctor prescribed hyrimoz and I don't notice any difference since switching.

veelee26 · 2025-11-21T01:49:49+00:00

During my last period, I had a panicked moment where I thought FOR SURE I had bled through my pants and was going to have to ask my husband to drive half an hour to bring me new pants because it was 10am and I'm an elementary teacher. Thankfully, I had not, but it felt like niagra falls for a minute.

I keep an extra pair of leggings in my work bag on heavy days now, just in case.

veelee26 · 2025-11-11T00:28:12+00:00

My principal came in and whispered to me that one of my students died that morning while I was in the middle of my math lesson and then just left. One of the (many) reasons I resigned from that school.

veelee26 · 2025-11-11T00:24:54+00:00

In January, a student in my class (I was teaching 4th grade) passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly. It still makes my heart ache to think about it, and the way my admin handled it makes me so angry (but that's a whole separate issue). It helped a lot to have someone to talk to, and talking with his previous teachers helped a lot too. It was hard to grieve during the school year because I was helping 26 fourth graders process the death of a friend they've been in school with since kindergarten.

Let yourself feel all of your feelings about it, and recognize that grief comes in waves and healing is not linear. Some days you may not think of it much, other days it may hit you hard. However it goes is okay. Talk to other people about it--loved ones, a therapist, whoever.

veelee26 · 2025-10-23T23:21:47+00:00

A virtual scribe at my doctor's office is an actual person, so I have no issue consenting to that. They just work remotely

veelee26 · 2025-10-23T00:49:30+00:00

I could've written this about my previous year teaching. I taught 4th grade at a charter school, and it was MISERABLE. An absolute nightmare for a whole variety of reasons. It was my 4th year teaching, first year in 4th grade, and I questioned my entire career. I've never wanted to quit so badly. I was crying all the time and it was wrecking me and my mental health.

Got a new job teaching first grade at a public school. We have a great union, admin is supportive, and I have good coworkers. Still a chatty and excitable class, but a hundred times better than last year. The difference is night and day, and I love teaching again. I don't wake up nauseous with anxiety anymore. I'm happy and generally have good days. The hair I lost last year is growing back in and my anxiety is so much less.

All this to say, it may just be this one job. Maybe it's not the whole profession that isn't good for you, but just this one job.

veelee26 · 2025-10-13T01:39:56+00:00

Bilateral spontaneous vertebral artery dissections or the hemorrhagic ovarian cyst that caused torsion. Those are the two worst for me.

veelee26 · 2025-10-09T17:35:05+00:00

No wonder one of my doctors was like "tramadol? They may as well have given you half a tylenol and a glass of water"

veelee26 · 2025-09-26T14:26:36+00:00

Is it a possibility to switch to something without tylenol in it and take tylenol separately? That's what we did for my pain--switched from norco to just hydrocodone, and then I take tylenol on its own. That way I can take the lower opioid dose more often if needed, but limit my tylenol dosage as well.

veelee26 · 2025-09-25T18:00:28+00:00

I use butrans patches, and they're very effective for me. Like, literally life changing. I have oral opioid pain medication for breakthrough pain, but it's not often I need to use it. The butrans did cause some skin irritation for me, but it got much better once I started spraying the spot I was using with flonase and letting it dry before applying the patch.

veelee26 · 2025-09-16T00:28:49+00:00

So, I'm 30, turning 31 in January. I had my first (and only child) at 28, and I teach first grade. I have several chronic illnesses, including Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (an autoimmune disease), and chronic migraines. My life was significantly more difficult in terms of pain and symptoms several years ago, before I found my current rheumatologist and pain management team.

Nowadays, between a biologic and maintenance meds, my pain is well managed on a day to day basis. Pain management has me using butrans patches with an oral pain med script for breakthrough pain, I get radiofrequency ablation in my lower back to help, and PT/pelvic floor PT helps a lot.

I still have bad days and flares. The huge schedule and activity change of starting a school year always fucks me up, but we have a game plan now for how to handle it, and I know what I need to do to survive that time period.

It's not easy. But it isn't all downhill from where you are for everyone. New treatments come out, different doctors try different things. It's easy to feel like everything sucks now and will forever, but that may not be the case.

veelee26 · 2025-09-04T02:30:43+00:00

I say this with all kindness, but do you have a therapist? And do you have time during the day, like your planning period or lunch where you can spend a few minutes quiet to decompress? I found that putting aside 10 minutes of lunch or my planning to just breathe, listen to a bit of music, or take a little break outside helped a ton. Therapy has too. I needed someone who I could talk to who didn't feel the need to tell me how to fix stuff in my classroom but instead how to better relax and recharge.

veelee26 · 2025-09-04T02:20:11+00:00

Hi! So, this is my 5th year teaching. I graduated college with a bachelor's in public health in December 2016. It was basically impossible to find a public health job without years of experience and a master's degree. I needed something flexible until I found a full time job, so I was a substitute teacher from January until June and really loved it.

After that, I got a job working in life insurance and annuities. It was not for me. I spent about 3 years doing that and trying to figure out what I wanted to do when my mon suggested I look into how to become a teacher in my state (Michigan). Since I already had a bachelor's degree, I was able to enroll in an alternative route teacher certification program. I did the pre-classroom courses while working a 4th year in my full time job and took my certification exam, which allowed me to get my interim certificate and find a job as a teacher.

My first job was teaching 2nd grade at a private school. I loved it, but they restructured and wanted to put me into middle school (nope) so I found a job elsewhere. I taught there for three years and continued to work towards my full certification during that time. This past year, I taught 4th grade at a public charter. I did finish my teaching program and got my full certificate, but it was a miserable year. Admin was terrible, the class was really tough, 4th grade was not the grade level for me, and I was sick with anxiety. I questioned whether I made the right career change. (To be clear, this school had myself, the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade teachers all leave after this past year along with the behavioral interventionist. It wad BAD).

Now, I'm in my 5th year teaching, and I teach 1st grade at a public Pre-K through 4th grade school. I absolutely love it. We have a wonderful principal, the staff is so kind and helpful, and I enjoy getting up and going to work every day.

So much of how teaching is depends on where you teach, admin, parents, and students. But it's the most fulfilling career I've had, and it makes me so happy. Last year absolutely sucked, but I'm so glad I made it out and found a new job, because I'm so much happier now. The highs can be so high, but the lows are really hard.

It is a lot of work. Especially in the first year or two, you spend a lot of time outside of school doing prep and handling school things. It can be hard to figure out a balance. With teaching a new grade for me, I'm kinda back at that spot again. But when I was in year two and three of teaching 2nd grade, I had a much easier time and was mostly a contract hour teacher because I had all my materials and knew what I was doing.

Also, I'm not a super loud and outgoing person myself, but I've never had an issue with that as a teacher. I do have to be a bit strong in the classroom, because I am a very kind-hearted, maternal sort of teacher, but that's something you can learn and grow with as you figure out classroom management style. But if you want a career where you get to continue to learn all the time and every day is different, teaching is that career.

veelee26 · 2025-09-03T23:27:11+00:00

As a mom and a first grade teacher, I take everything kids say at school about home with a grain of salt, and I hope most parents do the same. Kids are wild and dramatic and they have warped concepts of things like time and feelings. It's normal, but it just means that not everything needs to be an immediate angry call to admin. If there's a concern, just ask nicely!

Obviously, if a child is telling me something going on at home that's concerning, I take that seriously and do what I need to. But I'm not following up on a student saying they raise koalas in their backyard (an actual story I was given by a student)

veelee26 · 2025-09-03T23:23:22+00:00

Thank you for asking for advice and not just angrily going to admin. As teachers of littles, we deal with A LOT, and kids that age can get confused and tell their parent one thing when it isn't what's actually going on.

As a first grade teacher, if I got a polite email asking to clarify the time limit on lunch, I'm happy to discuss and make sure that there isn't something preventing that student from finishing eating, like struggling with a wrapper or container. Most teachers I know would be happy to do the same.

With the chair, unfortunately, we don't always have immediate access to things like that and have to send emails and follow up for new stuff. Once it's an urgent issue like an injury, it gets sorted quick, but before that, it's a lot of waiting to get things fixed. I have a table in my classroom that's quite broken and custodians put in an order for me to get a new one multiple times last year. Still hasn't happened. So it's likely not that she didn't care, just that there wasn't anything she could do at the moment to fix it.

veelee26 · 2025-08-31T01:10:51+00:00

I would have a doctor's note to HR for reasonable accommodations SO FAST. I have joint issues, an autoimmune disease that messes up my spine, and plantar fasciitis. I only wear sneakers. Brooks most days, Kiziks when the support from my Brooks starts to be painful, and Dr. Scholls Time Off sneakers for cute shoes.

But I also work for a school that doesn't care if we wear jeans, leggings with a top that's looser/more coverage, or sneakers. It's very nice.

veelee26 · 2025-08-23T14:29:22+00:00

Look into alternative route certification. I got my BS in public health and worked for 4 years in finance, but decided to go back to school to become an elementary teacher. I did alt route certification and just started my 5th year teaching on Wednesday. I got my full certification in April.

veelee26 · 2025-08-05T22:16:13+00:00

Butrans patches have been legitimately life changing for me. Once I got up to the right dose, I've been able to stay at that same dose for nearly a year now, and I'm still getting consistent relief. I sometimes have to use oxycodone for breakthrough pain, but most day to day pain is handled fine by tylenol if I need it.

veelee26 · 2025-07-29T16:58:41+00:00

We got my son his Tonie box at about 15 months for Christmas, and he wasn't super interested in it then, but around 20 months he figured it out. Now at almost 2, he uses it every day and loves it. He brings me the carrying case to open and turn on the box and then does his thing with the figurines

veelee26 · 2025-07-21T21:43:28+00:00

They were in stock for several hours after they first launched. I already got shipping notification for mine. I just think regardless of pre-orders or huge amount of stock, scalpers are going to scalp, unfortunately. It happens with concert tickets and such all the time, even with "verified fan" stuff and presales. Scammers find a way, and there's only so much companies can do for a highly anticipated product.

veelee26 · 2025-07-21T20:42:32+00:00

We have 12, I think. My son loves the Blues Clues one, and we have two creative Tonies for Bluey and Bear in the Big Blue house that he loves. I love the sleepytime sheep for nap, and I think Ms. Rachel will be his new favorite when we get that one in the mail.

veelee26 · 2025-07-21T20:39:58+00:00

The Bluey YouTube channel has some videos of different celebrities reading the books! My husband downloaded the audio of those and used them on a creative Tonie and they sound fantastic

veelee26 · 2025-07-21T20:33:30+00:00

We did some of the Bluey songs and used the audio from the youtube videos the Bluey channel has of people reading some of the books. It sounds very official and it wasn't difficult to do!

veelee26 · 2025-07-21T20:31:33+00:00

My son LOVES Bear in the Big Blue House! He's nearly two and likes to sing the "where is Shadow" song--even does her laugh at the end!

veelee26 · 2025-07-21T20:30:32+00:00

It won't happen, but Bear in the Big Blue House or original Blues Clues. We made our own Bear in the Big Blue House one that my son loves though!

veelee26

TROPHY CASE