Surviving Soberly

Good morning. I’m delighted to let you know about the Institute’s newest research-based publication, “A Need to Know: Enhancing Adoption Competence among Mental Health Professionals,” which is being released today. We hope and believe that broad dissemination of this report will lead more and more professionals to receive the education they need, so it’s critically important that it gets into as many hands as possible. Toward that end, please feel free to circulate/forward/publicize it far and wide, post the link on Facebook and other social media, write about it, tweet it, blog about it, use or reference it in print and online newsletters, blast it to your lists and suggest that others (especially affected and targeted individuals and organizations) do all these things, too. FYI, the Institute is embarking on an intensive, sustained effort to distribute it to many people as possible who can benefit from it. Thanks for your help and commitment. Adam. Adam Pertman, Executive Dir...

Aug. 14, 2013 Dear McKenna: So now you're going to be a teenager tomorrow. Lots of things have happened this year for you: You made symphonic band, finished babysitting class, progressed with your piano playing, and have accomplished so much academically and personally. I brag about you all the time. I've been thinking about what I want to say in this letter since you're going to be a teenager now while also thinking about what it was like when I was 13. Things have changed a lot since 1979 when I was your age. You've probably never heard of a Walkman. That's how we listened to music on the radio or tapes then if we weren't near a stereo at home. People would jog or walk with The Walkman. I was so excited when I got one for Christmas. All the kids wanted one like you and your friends wanted Ipads. We had all kinds of weird toys from pet rocks, to fake TV dinners, spirographs, fake airports, fire stations, puppets you co...

She gained eight lbs. and finished her babysitting class!

You know the saying, "In a New York minute, everything can change?" Well, I had one of those moments yesterday, thank God! After getting such bad news the day before, which I wrote about here, I get a phone call from my psychiatrist's office while in the middle of working telling me that he's going to keep a handful of patients - and I'm one of them. I was stunned, shocked, thrilled - all of the above. I couldn't believe it! These things never happen to me. I called my sister later and asked her if she called him or something. Nope, she said. Just talked to God. I still don't know if my therapist put in a word for me. All I know was the rest of the day seemed to effortlessly go by, which is NEVER the case, even with my heel spur, which I've been contending with for years. Nothing seemed to bother me, like when I got on my first anti-depressant. Turned my whole day around. I wasn't alone any more. I was back in the safe zone. T...

I have two teeth that need to be pulled and can't afford to go to the dentist. I have gone through dental hell before - for two years - and almost drank over it. But I didn't. Then it went away, of course, after I got dental care. Now it's back. But this weekend I actually went so far as to PRICE the wine and not just look at it. It didn't help that there were two people in front of me in line on two different occasions Saturday actually buying wine. I've been taking Naproxen as prescribed (on the bottle) and 500 mgs. of Ibuprofen every four hours, even got on my knees and prayed. Getting on my knees and praying always worked before. Not last night. Bitterly I said aloud to my Higher Power in the car, "Okay, fine, I deserve that. I've got bad karma. I've got it coming." Then, "So, you're just gonna hang me out to dry on this one, eh?" Fine. Then the pain went away. Then it came back. Gotcha. My mom emailed me some reso...

It seems my fifth medication I'm on in addition to my other four isn't working any more after a month. Well, that was a fun ride. My sponsor says I'm just a garden variety drunk but to me a garden variety drunk is one who quits drinking and that's their only problem. They don't have to be on meds. Their only problem is not drinking. I'd kill to just be one of those. But that was never the case with me. I've give anything to not have nightmares every night, some about my deceased dad who still haunts me from the grave, who got away with abusing me and my sisters all his life. Who never paid in this life. Instead we paid. And paid dearly. One of my nieces paid, too. And is still paying. I wish I could exhume my dad, then bring him back to life so I could kill him. Instead five strokes killed him. But he didn't suffer. I know because I asked some doctors if a stroke is painful. And it's not. He never suffered. Oh, he had some depression in...

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