Medicated

Constantine’s life hadn’t been the easiest. She’d dealt with various health issues the majority of her life. Lifelong health issues that required lifelong care. Health issues that left her unable to work after a while. She’d been healthy to work the majority of her life. Until her health issues worsened. She’d applied for Disability and Medicaid a year after the Restaurant she worked at shut down. Her health had worsened in that year. She’d gotten denied Medicaid before getting a response from Disability. She didn’t qualify. For some reason. No reason given only that she didn’t qualify. It meant all the tests she was in need of weren’t getting done. It also meant she’d not be able to see all the Doctors she needed to see either. 

Life in the small town she lived in didn’t help. Nobody could, or would, help her. There wasn’t any help anyway. Everyone she spoke with didn’t know of any programs that would be able to help pay for the testing or Doctors. The denial from disability came eight months after she applied. She figured that would happen. She’d appealed it and waited for a response. She reached out to a Lawyer that was helping her get Disability. She knew she had to keep fighting even though she wanted to give up. 

The few pharmaceutical medications that helped barely helped. She’d done everything she needed to do in order to have some semblance of a healthier life. It didn’t change the fact doctors continued making ignorant comments as if she wasn’t trying to lose the weight she’d struggled to lose for the last twenty years. Despite the fact she’d pushed back every time. She’d share the time in her life she walked at least five miles most days and should’ve lost a significant amount of weight. A significant amount of weight she’d not lost. It baffled them ever time. It shocked them every time as well. She’d used marijuana as much as she was able to over the last eight years. It wasn’t always possible.

She’d begun using marijuana far more when she was able to get some to cope with the pain and other aspects of her health issues. A plant grown from the earth that helped her far more than anything else she tried. Pharmaceutical medication included. She hadn’t always been able to smoke though. Money being the only problem. The extreme financial hardship she was experiencing prevented her from having a life. She relied on her dad aside from food assistance. He was on a fixed income. Until he’d been placed into a Care facility after his Dementia diagnosis. He’d let her transfer nearly everything from his savings while he was still of sound mind. To give her a chance at life in case Disability failed her as well. He hoped she’d get it though. 

She’d let the Realty company know she wasn’t going to renew the lease when it came time for that to happen. She’d planned on leaving depending on what was going on with Disability. Until Ben called her letting her know he’d done all he could to no avail. She was getting denied again. She understood where her friends were coming from when they encouraged her to keep fighting. Time was no longer on her side though because of her circumstances. She got rid of everything she’d never use or take with her when she moved. Her best friend Riley had gone with her to the Care Facility to give Adam his clothes and a few other things for safe keeping until she could come back for them after she moved. 

She moved to Miami Beach six months later when the lease ended. She’d taken a trip to find an apartment and job two months prior to the end of the lease. A two week trip to decompress along with finding a place and a job. She’d managed to get a job as a Budtender as well as an apartment nearby days before going back home. They understood her situation. They were willing to wait until she moved to give her a start date. They’d let her work two days prior to her leaving as a trial run. They loved how she used her story to connect with customers. They loved her approach to helping customers find their strain. People with and without health issues. They hired her on the spot that day. 

Her health improved over the next six months as she adjusted to life in Miami Beach.  She’d managed to find consistent healthcare. Everything she’d needed to get done had been done. The healthcare benefits she got from working as a Budtender helped her pay for everything she needed to have done. It helped her pay for all the Doctors she had to see as well. She’d adjusted her lifestyle far more than before. She’d fallen in love with the area far more than before. She’d become far happier than she’d ever been before. She medicated every day since she’d moved. She’d tried new strains that came in. She’d write everything down, as usual, to better help others during her shifts. She’d been entrusted with the blurbs next to the strains. A useful thing that helped customers better decide what was best for them. She’d become a Tester for the most part after a while. She was content with the life she’d made for herself