My wife has struggled with Gastroesophageal reflux disease for years now. I imagine that this is fairly common with anyone who has to take the amount of medication that she does.

She’s tried all kinds of medications for reflux over the years. The last one that was prescribed for her was Zegrid, but that is no longer covered by insurance because it is available over the counter. I still don’t understand that logic. We pay a bit more for it now since it’s not covered, but it still seems to do a good job.

Things that seem to help in addition to the medication are:

• Avoiding carbonated beverages
• Reducing caffeine
• Avoiding late night snacks

My wife has a terrible time following any of these tips. Thank goodness for medication.

Why does everything seem to happen all at once?

Things just continue to pile up. We’ve had car trouble in the thousands of dollars, because of maintenance and accidents. Stuff is falling apart around the house. Jenny had a severe reaction to Arava which was very scary. My work is insane, and when I say insane, I mean crazy, like dressed up like Mayor McCheese shooting up a Burger King crazy. It’s all too much for me, I guess.

Knowing that it is never smart to ignore symptoms, I went to the doctor to see why I’ve been having chest pain. I went expecting to hear, “Oh, you are stressed out. You are fine.” That’s what I expected, but that’s not the answer I got. I got, “Oh, well, you may be having some issues. You need to go to a cardiologist.”

Seriously? Now? I don’t have time right now.