I haven't been feeling well since Thursday and it was getting me down... It's not as if we were going to starve to death for want of a Thanksgiving turkey - I bought a month's worth of bulk meat on the weekend! But that was 'ordinary' food and Thanksgiving is supposed to be special so I really felt like I'd failed my husband. As it is, he spent the other weekend fixing a friend's computer and they gave him a $50 check yesterday, so he says that if I really want to go back to the store, he can take me tomorrow. As it is, I don't know if I'll take him up on it or not... I still don't feel well, and the last time I bought a turkey (christmas two years ago, which was right when I first got majorly sick) I was too miserably sick to cook it! So I'm feeling a little superstitious about that too. I was getting a little excited about trying to stuff the pork roast I got on the weekend - I've never tried that before, so it would be 'special' and it wouldn't require spending any more money aside from buying the stuffing ingredients. Maybe I'll buy some dried apricots and give it a go, but I'd have to take it back out of the freezer today so it could thaw. I'll see what John thinks when he gets home.
Poor John had to leave for work at 6am today so he set the alarm for five. Usually I don't hear a thing when he goes that early, but I'd woken up at four and I was laying there wishing I was asleep! I finally went back to sleep when he left... I'm going for my massage this afternoon but it's not till 2.30 so I've got plenty of time to rest. I HAD had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 9.15 this morning but I cancelled it yesterday because John wouldn't be here to take me... it wasn't an emergency - I was going to get my flu shot and talk to Dr Brott about a few things but they can wait till after Thanksgiving, especially since Walgreens took care of renewing my blood pressure prescription for me (and that was the most urgent thing I was going to get.) I've got enough of my other prescriptions left to last me another week...
Speaking of prescriptions I was reading a lengthy discussion over whether it's okay to carry your own prescribed pills in a non-prescription container, and apparantly the letter of the law says that no, it's not okay and in fact you could be arrested for possession of your own prescription! That would have to be the stupidest law I've ever heard of, especially since they've made it so hard to get narcotic prescriptions in the first place. If you lose your bottle or something happens to it, you won't be able to get any more pills to replace them... if somebody steals it, you're held liable and you won't be able to get any pills to replace them... carrying just a part of your prescription in a labelled pill bottle isn't a good solution either - somebody swipes it and they have your name and address and prescription number right in front of them so they know exactly where to go to steal the rest! Since most narcotics are prescribed every 30 days and the bottle has the fill date on it, they could even go to the pharmacy when your next month's prescription is due and 'pick it up for you' - in which case you're out of luck (don't think I'm paranoid - this has been known to happen to pain patients! Once anybody finds out you're taking restricted medication, you're an easy target.) And the law applies to exactly the kinds of drugs that are the most likely to BE stolen - nobody's going to want your blood pressure tablets or your heart medication... but stimulants, pain pills, tranquilisers etc are the ones that they worry about being abused! Anyway, the way around it is supposed to be to get a printed list of your prescriptions from the pharmacy and carry it with you. The list you typed up yourself to give to doctors (which you should always carry with you in case of emergency) isn't good enough for the law. But the safest thing to do is not to carry anything with you if it's not over-the-counter... which is a real problem when your meds are either 'take as needed' or 'take every four hours and don't deviate from the schedule or they won't work!' I don't need to carry my blood pressure meds with me because I take them first thing in the morning when I get up - but the whole point of breakthrough pain medication is that you take it when you need it, which is NOT likely to be when you're sitting quietly at home!
And in case anybody reading this is thinking about coming and stealing my pills, you'd be in for a disappointment. Most of mine are over-the-counter vitamins (which are not included in the law either unless they're the ones that are used to make backyard drugs - you can carry all the ibuprofen, aleve and Tums you want). I don't take narcotics OR tranquilisers, and I'm not in pain management. I shudder to think that one day I might NEED it. The one time I was sent to a pain management doc he laughed in my face and said I didn't need to be there... so I'll never go back. I just pray every day that my pain remains at the level where my GP is legally allowed to treat it without my being treated like a criminal or an addict just for saying the word 'chronic pain', and that the law never changes enough that I get forced into pain management for my very ordinary prescriptions.
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