Since my last entry on April 7th things have been crazy…..just crazy………….and I'm certainly paying for it with a major flare.......god I hate fibro, I hate chronic fatigue - I HATE IT!
So our insurance called to let us know they totaled the van as the crash had done some damage to the frame. With that they sent us a settlement letter requesting the title be signed over to them and offering us some money to replace the car. They offered us a little more than we expected so we were happy with their offer and just wanted to get it done. Of course the amount is not enough to get the same vehicle or even anything close. It’s a shame, I went from no car payment and a car that still had plenty of life in it to looking to replace it with something that was similar – good luck right? Not exactly what I was looking for but it is what it is.
Let the stress begin – all I can hope is that I don’t end up going into a major flare over this entire process…….fingers crossed as we embark on the car search…financial worries and all that comes with it…fun times!
So I stared off by doing a lot of research online and looked at a lot of different cars. We knew we wanted something 4WD or AWD to start. Nissan, Subaru, Dodge, Jeep, Ford……the list I’m sure goes on, honestly I have really forgotten all the different brands and styles, at this point it's all just a blur.
I was initially set on a Jeep Patriot – however, after looking at the reviews and sitting in it decided it was not the right car for us. Too boxy for starters…..although I do love the way it looks on the outside, it’s just not the right fit on the inside. In fact, every time I see one I take a double look, I just like the way they look.
We sat in many cars over the past 2 weeks – the Murano and Rogue were nice – I really liked them both – it’s hard to get use to going from a mini van to a much smaller car but it’s time ……nothing really struck our fancy much……so the search continued…….
At one dealer we were introduced to the Dodge Journey – this car was one that did strike us as something we liked. It is very similar to what we had in both color and options but yet different enough – it was a 2013 and had 28k miles. We drove it – enjoyed it’s power and comfort. We left that dealer with the Dodge Journey as our top pick from the day. But we still wanted to check out some other cars so we weren’t quite ready just yet to make a commitment on it.
As the week went on we continued to search – looking for used vehicles between 2010 and 2014 that weren’t priced too high or with too much mileage – that really narrowed down the field for us. I looked at a Ford Escape – BLEH – the 2010 model I sat in felt so cheap – the 2013 had bad reviews. It felt like it was very cheap plastic inside – while it was the size I was looking for and the price – I couldn’t get over how cheap it felt and I knew I wouldn't be happy with it. Probably because I’m use to the nice interior that generally comes with Dodge vehicles.
So needless to say, the Ford Escape was now off our list. At this point our options were getting much more narrow and I was getting really tired of looking – literally tired. All the walking around, talking with people and internet research was catching up to me – we weren’t getting home until late every night and our entire “normal” schedule has been off really since the crash on April 3rd. I’m now feeling the effects of it all in full force – my fatigue is off the charts this week.
Wednesday this past week we decided to go check the Dodge Journey again. After several days of going around looking, dealing with pushy sales people and not finding anything we liked, I wanted to see the Dodge one more time before I made a decision. We went, we looked, we still loved – so the choice was obvious – let’s talk numbers! We also really liked the sales person we dealt with.
We ended up staying at the dealership for HOURS – we had to come to grips with several things before we could feel comfortable with our decision. For a variety of reasons, our credit scores aren't that great. That right there put us in a bad situation for our APR on a loan…….the dealer worked with what they had and ended up getting us as good a deal as they could considering. I was leaning towards continuing on looking as I really wanted a lower payment, however, with our credit, we were unlikely to find a lower payment even if we found a less expensive /older car. My husband reminded me too that if we left we would put to chance that the car we want would be gone, and that we might not find another like it. So after thinking and thinking and thinking we said yes to the car! I’m now driving a nice black 2013 Dodge Journey, AWD with 28k miles. We were able to negotiate a lot of things so we ended up getting some good deals attached to the car. Our 1st 4 oil changes are free with the dealer, the entire car is covered on any problems it could have pretty much for the life of the car. That makes us feel good about the purchase and comfortable that we won’t have to shell out even more money should something bad go wrong with anything on the car – lots of electronics so that is a great peace of mind for us. At most we would have to pay a $100 deductible to get anything fixed - sounds great to me!
Here it is Friday as I’m writing this update and I can barely keep my eyes open. I’m so exhausted from everything this week. My chronic fatigue tends to flare out of control when my “normal” schedule gets upheaved like it has this past couple weeks. Between driving my husbands older truck, which is difficult for me to even get into most of the time, the stress of trying to find the right car, finding the right car and the stress involved with that purchase – it all adds up and ends up leaving me dealing with excess pain and fatigue that I haven’t had in a while. My normal aches and pains are in overdrive and like I said before, my fatigue is just off the charts. Of course life goes on so I have to push myself through and get things done - but believe me, as soon as I can, I'm down for the count!
This weekend my plans are to rest if I can. That is of course after I grocery shop, plan Easter dinner and get things ready for the kids – but after all that, rest!......is there even time to rest?
I saw my Chiropractor on Friday and he gave me a shot of B12 - historically B12 does nothing for me at all - I'm one of those who just doesn't metabolize it - but we thought to give it a try and see if anything changes - maybe my body has changed since the last I tried it.
Coming into this next week I work M-W and then my daughter and I are off to MN for the Northern Lights Volleyball Tournament. She will play with the 17’s team from her club as they invited her to join them for this tournament. It’s a great opportunity for her and we are very excited. Of course this trip will most likely not help my fatigue as traveling tends to take it out of me so I don’t suspect won’t feel much better until well into May when things finally start to settle down in my world and I can get the rest break I so much need in order to get back on track.
Through all this I’ve been continuing to see my chiropractor and getting adjustments. That’s been helping a lot – I have also had some acupuncture, which helped my ribs finally stop hurting. They were hurting so bad, I am sure from the accident. After the acupuncture they finally stopped hurting.
Today (Saturday) as I'm finishing up this post I wanted to add that I am not as tired as I was yesterday - so maybe that B12 did help a little. I went to bed early last night too. On the other hand, my entire body hurts - I think it's just par for the course with having Fibro and Chronic Fatigue - I just hope this flare leaves sooner rather than later.
Whew, that was a lot to share this week! If you made it this far, I applaud you and thank you for your continued interest in my story.
Until next time - to your health!
Gerri
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