We not only live in one of the biggest cities in the nation, we live in the heart of downtown Chicago. Not the suburbs, the outskirts or the outlaying neighborhoods. Downtown.

Consequently, with so many people everywhere around us, our local pharmacy is a hot-bed of activity. I don’t think I’ve ever been there and not waited in line — not even a few months ago when I had shingles and came in the middle of the night — including the drive thru!

There are always people picking up or dropping off prescriptions. The floor-to ceiling shelves they have of filled orders are so packed that they have begun stacking last names W-Z in plastic crates on the floor.

Have I painted a busy enough picture? It’s one high volume establishment.

Which is why I was shocked — shocked — when the pharmacist (not one of the assistants, but the pharmacist) recognized E-Niner’s name immediately. Not his meds, but his name. “Oh yeah,” he said to me, “E-Niner.”

“You know his name?”

“Yes…I guess I do,” he replied.

“I don’t know if I should be upset that my son is on so many meds that in this busy place you know him by his name, or if I should feel good that you’re taking care of him!” The guy just smiled.

Speaking of the pharmacy, I managed to pick up three prescriptions for E-Niner today. Three prescriptions that came to a whopping total of I-kid-you-not 399 dollars. Three hundred ninety-nine. It’s the first of the year; our insurance deductible started over.

Last year we blew through our deductible by mid-February. With drug prices like these (I really did forget how expensive they are), is it any wonder we burned through it so fast?

We’re on one of those high-deductible PPO plans where we pay every cent up-front, and once we reach 5,000 dollars the insurance company covers 100 percent.

It’s a pretty good plan for our family considering last year insurance probably spent close to $75,000 on E-Niner (my estimate). That’s what two weeks in the psych ward plus an EEG, two heart scans, genetic tests, weekly family therapy, twice weekly art therapy, countless hours of behavior therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and meds, meds, meds cost these days. I’m wondering if I shouldn’t estimate more!?

But we’re the lucky ones. We have health insurance. It eats us up the first quarter of the year, but it’s worth every penny the back nine months. What are people doing who don’t have insurance?

I feel for them. They’re trying to figure out if they should keep the roof over their heads or keep their body able. Shitty choices to face.

There was a time in life that I didn’t have health insurance. They wouldn’t cover me because of infertility. So I found this discount medical program that was a crock, but at least if I needed help in the emergency room, that would be covered.

And you know what happened to me? I got pregnant. Me. The infertile one. The one who had no chance.

And do you know what the insurance companies said after I called them begging them to cover me because the whole infertility diagnosis was obviously wrong? Do you know what they said? They said no. Pre-existing condition.

That’s right folks, I went through my whole pregnancy, induced labor (because of pre-eclampsia) and delivery with squat for insurance. Thankfully the hospital worked out a deal with us since we were paying out-of-pocket. Thank goodness I used to work for a health care system, so I knew how to work the system.

But man, I feel for anybody and everybody who doesn’t have insurance. You never know when you’re going to need it. And by all accounts, it’s expensive out there!