I've had a lot of reasons to be thankful for insurance over the past year. When insurance companies come through on claims, it's so worth it.
Getting a new (used) car through insurance
Even though it's a slight downgrade - a slightly older model, where the lights and wipers don't automatically turn on/off when it gets dark/rains. Still well worth it. The old car had a few major issues after faithfully serving for many years - and then there was an accident that resulted in insurance writing it off entirely.
Getting a new shed through house insurance
Last year, the shed down in the back corner of the yard caught fire in the night. (It's still unclear why. The best working theory is stray sparks from the neighbours, who often BBQ just on the other side of the fence from the shed.) It's just lucky it's situated so far away from the main house.
Home insurance covered the shed replacement. Because the old one was an ancient, falling-down structure full of asbestos, they replaced it with a metal kitset shed. The whole painful process took six months from lodging the claim to completion of the shed - but it's done! The new shed is infinitely more usable, too.
Getting Spud minor surgery through health insurance
Spud has always had a lot of issues with noisy breathing, reflux, his sinuses, nosebleeds, and constant colds/coughs. (Weirdly, no ear infections, as far as I can tell. Either that, or he's such a trooper he just doesn't let on.) A couple ENT visits and an X-ray later, we learned he has enlarged adenoids. After taking a wait-and-see approach for a couple more months, we went the surgical route. The operation took less than an hour and went super smoothly. Way better than expected! The difference was instant. Turns out that airway was more than 50% blocked by those supersized adenoids. It was, of course, quite scary to contemplate upfront. Now, I wish we could have done it earlier. Oversized adenoids is another fairly common thing, it turns out. This has been a huge step on my own personal journey, away from putting up with whatever life hands you, not making a fuss, powering through.
It's not the first time we've gone to a specialist, having given up on the general care system. I've talked before about Spud's food intolerances. He's sensitive to half of the top 8 allergens. I'm grateful that he does not have severe instant reactions, but intolerances are a real pain. They're hard to pin down and others don't take you seriously. Babies and toddlers can't communicate! Using a mix of scientific observation and tracking, and my intuition, I was finally able to identify the trouble ingredients (dairy, nuts, fish and seafood). I may not have hard proof, but I completely believe in my conclusions and totally stand by them.
The first specialist was sceptical. Some symptoms Spud presented are not typical by medical gospel. However, shitloads of anecdotal evidence in online communities and private groups say otherwise. And all our experiences count for something in my eyes. Anyway, we finally got prescribed hypoallergenic formula - and that changed everything.
But we still struggled with some bad eczema flareups. So we went to the most recommended paediatric dermatologist. "It's quite bad, you know," she observed. No shit. But not bad enough for a GP to care. So she gave us a routine to follow - with very specific descriptions of how much cream to apply on specific days - and it worked a treat.
