Another from rehab has died

Sword of the Lord said:

It's been a little over 8 months since I got out of rehab for alcoholism. My unit had 40 men. One of the counselors led a group one day and told us to look around at each other. He said, statistics say only one of you will stay sober for the rest of your lives. Statistics also say that a quarter of you will die from your addiction, and a few of you will die this year. Most people scoffed, not believing we would fail or some would die. Well, in that time 2 heroin addicts from my unit have died. I got word a little bit ago that someone else has died. I figured another heroin overdose. Nope, one of us alcoholics. Only 6 of us out of the 40 were there for alcohol. He was a kind young guy who had a living hell thrown at him. He became an alcoholic after a car accident. He was driving and his wife and baby were in the car. I don't know what happened, but they crashed. He lived and they died. He reportedly shot himself. He went back to drinking almost immediately and the pain finally tore him up too bad. I'm very sad about this. During one of our music therapy sessions he chose this song, I assume for his wife. It's very hard to hold in tears at the moment. I mean this guy was great and never should have become an alcoholic.

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I hope you keep going to meetings regardless what happens.

Lord have mercy.

@Utah Knight s s s @Sword of the Lord

Sorry to hear that. Best to you for your alcoholism & such.

I am so sorry, @Sword of the Lord. May you be strong in the LORD and be an encouragement to your unit.

Michael , you be the one who stays sober. Your choice is to live sober, embrace life and be a Father to your children or die.

Two of my friends I grew up with died this past year. One was named Michael. Michael gave up his wife, children and a job at the post office to chase the bottle. Stevie did the same, his wife left him and remarried, one of Stevies kids is a heroin addict. The sins of the Fathers.

I remember several years back driving to work on a Sunday. My phone rang and it was the State police. They asked me if I was driving . I thought it was a prank. I pulled over and they asked me if I had a brother James. I told them yes, they told me he had been found dead.

He died in bed, alone after a night out drinking and ingesting drugs.
He was only in his early 40,s.


The other side of the coin, his friend Jack and Charlie have been sober for over a decade. They chose life.

It is very sad to see. I am CONSTANTLY seeing alcoholics and drug addicts in the hospital. I was in the room once when a patient of mine was told by the doctor that she had sepsis from injecting needles into herself. When she asked if she was going to die, he told her that it was likely. Her boyfriend was in the room and was so strung out he didn't know what was going on. She wound up dying. I've seen it over and over and over. Young guys overdosing and winding up disabled or becoming vegetable like and young women getting endocarditis. Alcoholics on the banana bag and CIWA, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum. ALL of them look well beyond ancient. Their kids and their families are the ones I feel sorry for because they suffer for the poor lifestyle choices of the addicts.

I was just told on Friday that there is now a nation wide shortage of dilaudid and morphine. The pharmaceutical companies can't meet demand (some were in Puerto Rico). These folks will not find the narcotics they seek in the hospital quite soon.

Anyway, it is very difficult to maintain sympathy for a lot of them, especially when they sabotage their own care at every turn.

Sword of the Lord said:

I used to feel that way until I was actually in a rehab facility and learning so much about addiction, heroin addiction in particular, and watching grown men break down crying because while they want to stop so bad, they find it impossible, and hate what it does to their family. I spent night after night in literal tears while drunk and praying to God to make it stop because I COULD NOT. Something always sucked me back in, and I hated it.

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That's in rehab. Many of the people I see don't care about rehab- or if they're in a position to perhaps care about it- the long term damage has already been done. I really do see the worst of society. The people I see are hardly ever about the rehab.

When you watch someone's really nice mother have a melt down because she feels guilty about having to leave her son's bedside to do things like eat, sleep, laundry, and chores that have to be done- when he didn't give one thought about what his drug problem would do to her- your sympathy will be entirely with those affected by the poor lifestyle choices of the addicts. Or- you watch someone's really nice father cry and stand there helplessly- watching his son unable to even do the simplest of tasks- you will pity the son- but your sympathy will be with the father. When you watch someone's elementary aged kids suffer because their parents only want their next fix and are non-compliant with anything in their best interest- you care about the kids more (I've had to call CPS on a patient).

Yes- it is sad to see someone that can no longer communicate and can only give a vacant stare. Yes- it is sad to be shown pictures of what the skeletal person used to look like before tube feedings, before the body was contracted, before the brain experienced permanent damage, before they needed TOTAL care 24/7.

Sword of the Lord said:

Most opiate addicts start on prescription pain killers because the government says they're perfectly fine, and most addicts in general have experienced horrible trauma that ultimately led to the problem.

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I see people pull all kinds of stunts in their attempts to get us to give narcotics to them. You should see the tantrums when the medical management doctor refuses to entertain them. I usually only recommend tylenol when I call to get orders. In fact, the harder a patient tries for narcotics, the more I will go out of my way to inform every doctor that has been consulted what their angle is. Addicts can be extremely dangerous and violent in the hospital.

Praying for all the lost souls...and for you and your wife in your recovery.
May God strengthen and heal you, and all those in rehab