Sometimes when you try to pretend everything's normal... your disease smacks you back into reality

I am trying to learn how to live with this disease, I really am... but some days I just hate my life a little bit. So, I ran out of Imuran. I messaged my doctor last week asking him to place a prescription for me, but he wouldn't reply. I was getting close to the end of the bottle... then I messaged my rheumatologist. He helped, but due to some miscommunication, I thought he hadn't placed the prescription yet, so I tried to use my old prescription (which has 7 refills left).

I've done this before: they just call the other pharmacy and transfer the prescription, and you're good to go. And the great thing is that there's a pharmacy across the street. Man, life is sweet! So I tell my wife to take the car and don't worry about it 'cause I can easily walk across the street. Well then... this morning I take my empty bottle and go across the street. The nice lady at the pharmacy informs me that it'll just take a moment, but I need to fill a form because it's the first time I use the pharmacy. OK, so I go through the form... and after going through that, the pharmacist tells me that I will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon because they don't have the medicine and have to order it. The point of doing this was not skipping a dose, so I think "well, I can walk to the other pharmacy down the street and get it today". So I tell them that I will just get it somewhere else.

Here's where hell started for me. When you have a disease that affects your muscles the problem is that you don't know at what point they will start breaking down. I learned that during the moving a few weeks ago. I really thought I could make this walk. But at some point the pain started to show. My lower legs were getting sore and swollen... I knew this wasn't good as I was starting having difficulty walking. But I was closer to the pharmacy than I was from home, so I thought I might as well make it worth it and get the medicine. Well the next pharmacy didn't have the medicine either... neither did the next :-( And at this point the pain is getting intense...

As I am starting my way back home, I see a sign for a CVS pharmacy on the other side of the street. It was tough as I couldn't cross there, but had to go around to get through the crosswalk, but I got there. Well they did have it... but they couldn't sell it to me. See, the prescription is from my previous doctor in Kansas, and although they could contact the pharmacy, they couldn't get his DEA number which by California's Law they need to sell me the medicine. So all this was for nothing... I think the lady saw the pain in my face, because she gave a daily dose in my old bottle...

And now... I had to get back home. It was very, very painful. The walk back home, of course, seemed twice as long. But I got home. Right now my legs are very sore, I'm limping... barely walking. In the end I walked 8-12 blocks. Now I know I can't do this anymore...

The only good news is that I figured the misunderstanding with my doctor and he placed the prescription at the pharmacy close to home. So I should be fine tomorrow, without a long walk... the problem is I don't know if I can even walk across the street now :-(

Oh well, hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow...