Today’s victory is a bit unique but also something I think people can relate to in a general sense.

Money is very tight this month and we’re really struggling. We have a great many medical issues that we’re contending with and most of them require medication. We’re very lucky that most of our medications are covered but there’s one in particular that isn’t and it’s pretty expensive.

As many of you know, Lizze is dealing with severe chronic pain from fibromyalgia, Ehulers Danlos, and chronic daily migraines. She’s also being treated for PTSD and has pretty severe social anxiety issues. For the last decade, we’ve tried every medication that was appropriate for her situation, as well as any therapies. Unfortunately, nothing has ever really helped.

Her migraines haven’t responded to meds in years and while she met with some success having headache infusions, they are very temporary, and can only be done about twice a year. It requires high dose pain meds and preventative medications, infused over a period of four days. It’s pretty obvious that this isn’t good for her body and the relief lasts less than a week, of it even helps at all.

At the beginning of the year, out of desperation, Lizze applied for and was subsequently approved for her Ohio Medical Marijuana card.

This is what our dispensary looks like.

For the first time in over a decade, she’s found relief to the constant pain. This one medication addresses all of her problems at one time, and it does so in a much healthier way.

The people in our life have seen such an improvement in Lizze, and frequently pass along compliments about how well she looks. She’s smiling and laughing again. It’s pretty amazing. It’s far from perfect but she has more good days than she’s had in forever.

Anyway, it’s more expensive to buy medical marijuana in Ohio than it is in any other state that has legalized it. Last I checked, it was $538/oz. Obviously, that’s not covered by insurance and it’s completely out of pocket.

Lizze makes each refill last as long as she can and only uses it when she needs to. She must continue having access to this life, altering medication. Unfortunately, this can be hard to pull off sometimes, and this week was one of those times. She desperately needed to make a trip to the dispensary this week because she was completely out. I’ve been trying to figure out how I was going to pull this off and it was looking impossible.

This morning, however, I ended up getting six different jobs. Three of them paid immediately and the others over the next week. Anyway, I was able to get them all done and submitted before noon. Those jobs enabled me to take her to the dispensary and get her what she needed.

I consider this a victory for a number of reasons. First, it feels pretty good that all my hard work over the last decade, building this platform, has presented me with these opportunities. They have saved us on many occasions. The most important reason, however, is that Lizze is once again able to manage her pain more effectively. That’s a massive, massive win for all of us. 😉