Well, the next song is very appropriate.
Thursday afternoon on the 12th of November, 2010, my daughter and my brother took me from Shoal Creek Hospital to The Right Step Residential Rehab Center in Wimberley, Texas. They did take me by the see my wife in St. David's Hospital for about 30 minutes before we left for Wimberley. We got there around 3 p.m in the afternoon. Way out in the country, the center is an old bread and breakfast. Real nice setting.
It took about an hour for the administrator to interview me and tell me about rehab. They told me that I was going to be there for 30 days.
My daughter and my brother drove off about 4 and left me there. Because there was no room at the time in the residential area, I was put into the detox area for the afternoon. My roommate that afternoon was coming down off of opiates. He was wild eyed, I thought I was back in Shoal Creek.
If you are going to be in rehab I think this is a good one. Nice people taking care of you. But there you are out in the middle of nowhere and no way to get to anybody. The only people that knew where I was, was my family. Other folks just wondered what happened to me.
You have access to 2 phones, but if you don't know the phone number of someone, well that's just your bad luck. And there is usually a line to use the phones. This was going to take some adjustment.
But in the end, I was lucky cause they let me go after 28 days.
Life in rehab is next.
Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Don't Want to Waste My Life
Wow, while searching you tube for music to describe my next post, I ran headlong into the video featured here. Mike liking rap, never thought this old South Austin boy could come to that. Play the video while I finish this post.
Mighty powerful song. I was thinking about Jared a lot today and thinking what a waste. Too many people have trouble with that Higher Power thing. Find your Higher Power as you understand him/her. Just grab on and hold on. Three young men that I either met in rehab or just out of rehab have died in the last 30 days. Don't let it happen to you or one of your loved ones.
I believe that God gave this video to me to share with you. Please get help and don't waste your life. If you know someone in trouble, please get them help. Click on the links in the header.
We took my wife to the doctor today and she is doing great. God is giving us another chance and I promise that we won't waste it.
Tomorrow, I talk about the time right before my intervention.
Mighty powerful song. I was thinking about Jared a lot today and thinking what a waste. Too many people have trouble with that Higher Power thing. Find your Higher Power as you understand him/her. Just grab on and hold on. Three young men that I either met in rehab or just out of rehab have died in the last 30 days. Don't let it happen to you or one of your loved ones.
I believe that God gave this video to me to share with you. Please get help and don't waste your life. If you know someone in trouble, please get them help. Click on the links in the header.
We took my wife to the doctor today and she is doing great. God is giving us another chance and I promise that we won't waste it.
Tomorrow, I talk about the time right before my intervention.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Beginning of the End.
As alcoholics and addicts are confronted with life spinning out of control, its common for them to wish for things to be like they used to be...
The following song is a good example. Enjoy while you are reading the rest of the post.
What a great song and how true. Life was getting crazier and crazier and I really didn't know it. I was too busy trying to fix it. One week in late October 2010, my mom called me on the phone. After a little chit chat, she just blurted out, "Why don't you love me anymore". Well that pretty much finished me off. I just lost complete control over the phone, crying and hanging up on her. Not really sure what I said. I was just emotionally spent and it hit me hard and hurt.
Five minutes later, my brother called and wanted to know if I was ok and did he need to come out. Mom had called him crying. I said no, I am all right.
Five minutes after that, my baby sister called and wanted to know if I was alright. Wanting to come out and see me. I told her I was ok and she didn't need to come. Mom had called her very upset and worried about me.
About 15 minutes later, my sister that is only two years younger than me, shows up at my front door. All the hiding was done for. She came in and talked to me and then to my wife. My wife was curled up in bed and looking very ill. My sister started asking about alcohol and it was pretty obvious, not much to deny.
Well, my sister left, but the genie was out of the bottle. I knew then that something had to be done that alcohol had begun to dominate my life.
I met Jared's mother. She came to see him in rehab. She loved that boy with all her heart and you could tell that she was just scared. I watched them interact. Jared was very protective of his mom and worried about her a great deal. Jared and I had many conversations about our families and how drugs and alcohol had affected the family. I truly believed that Jared wanted to change. Jared's demons were just too much for him. He was having a real problem getting that Higher Power thing.
My next post will tell about the week leading up to my intervention. Crazy....
If you have a loved one that is having a hard time dealing with drugs and/or alcohol, click on one of the links at the top of the page. Get help for your loved ones as soon as possible.
Mike
The following song is a good example. Enjoy while you are reading the rest of the post.
What a great song and how true. Life was getting crazier and crazier and I really didn't know it. I was too busy trying to fix it. One week in late October 2010, my mom called me on the phone. After a little chit chat, she just blurted out, "Why don't you love me anymore". Well that pretty much finished me off. I just lost complete control over the phone, crying and hanging up on her. Not really sure what I said. I was just emotionally spent and it hit me hard and hurt.
Five minutes later, my brother called and wanted to know if I was ok and did he need to come out. Mom had called him crying. I said no, I am all right.
Five minutes after that, my baby sister called and wanted to know if I was alright. Wanting to come out and see me. I told her I was ok and she didn't need to come. Mom had called her very upset and worried about me.
About 15 minutes later, my sister that is only two years younger than me, shows up at my front door. All the hiding was done for. She came in and talked to me and then to my wife. My wife was curled up in bed and looking very ill. My sister started asking about alcohol and it was pretty obvious, not much to deny.
Well, my sister left, but the genie was out of the bottle. I knew then that something had to be done that alcohol had begun to dominate my life.
I met Jared's mother. She came to see him in rehab. She loved that boy with all her heart and you could tell that she was just scared. I watched them interact. Jared was very protective of his mom and worried about her a great deal. Jared and I had many conversations about our families and how drugs and alcohol had affected the family. I truly believed that Jared wanted to change. Jared's demons were just too much for him. He was having a real problem getting that Higher Power thing.
My next post will tell about the week leading up to my intervention. Crazy....
If you have a loved one that is having a hard time dealing with drugs and/or alcohol, click on one of the links at the top of the page. Get help for your loved ones as soon as possible.
Mike
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
More about Jared
Before I start telling my story, I want to tell you more about Jared. He was just one of 7 young men, late
teens and 20's that were very angry about life. Several of them had been in rehab numerous times. They were living very unhappy lives. Most of these young men grew up in single parent homes. The dad was generally gone. Many of these young boys rightly or wrongly blame their dads for their problems. To compensate for their anger and fear they had to give off the aura of a bad ass.
Well, us old guys saw right through that and called these young men on it. All of them, I mean all of them were really nice people when you got through the personality that they were trying to project.
Jared was different though. The other young guys saw right through Jared. Jared was an immature young man that was lost. I really felt sorry for him at times and at other times I felt like kicking his ass. Jared really hadn't done much since high school. He thought that he was going to enter the University of Texas or Texas State University this fall. He was excited about it.
Like I said earlier, he came to rehab straight from the Dr. Oz show. He arrived with much fanfare. At first he thought that he didn't have to obey the rules that everyone else did. After all the owner of the rehab and the director of the rehab were there with him a lot.
Reality soon set in and he had to do his chores like everyone else. Reality was rough on him. They aired the Dr. Oz segment with him while he and I were still in rehab. The rehab facility would not allow the patients to see the show. They did allow Jared to see it.
He came to me after viewing the segment and he was sick. You see he had an intervention on national television. He said that he looked stupid and out of it. Not quite the glamor that he had envisioned.
It really became difficult for him after that. He didn't want anyone outside to know that he was the guy in the Dr. Oz show. He was ashamed of how he acted on air in front of a national television audience.
I "graduated" from rehab about a week before Jared "graduated". We exchanged phone numbers and he promised to call me when he got out. I tried several times to call, but the number he gave me was changed.
I didn't know it at the time, but I got a good phone number for Jared the day that he died. I called the number and all I got was his voice mail.
I will go into this more later, but all of these young men had a problem with God or their Higher Power. They just didn't believe and it made it all that more hard for them.
While I was in rehab, another young man, Chance, died from an overdose. He had "graduated" from rehab 2 weeks before I got there. They said he was a star in group therapy and knew what to do.
I called my sponsor and told him about Jared. He said that another young man, Scott, has just died.
That's 3 lives in less than 60 days. Alcohol and addictions KILL. Lives are lost to car wrecks involving drugs and alcohol. People die from overdoses. Those just our of rehab are really some of the most likely to die. They had gotten clean and their systems no longer had any drugs in them. They get out and decide to shoot up with the same amount that they had been doing prior to rehab. It kills them.
You know these are lives wasted. They were just as many young women in rehab too. We are talking about a disease of the mind. Some just never get it.
Jared was a special young man. Very smart and likable. RIP now Jared.
Mike Carlson
I wanted to include this you tube video, The Pusher. Please don't listen if it offends you. All I can say if there is someone that God should damn, that would be The Pusher.
teens and 20's that were very angry about life. Several of them had been in rehab numerous times. They were living very unhappy lives. Most of these young men grew up in single parent homes. The dad was generally gone. Many of these young boys rightly or wrongly blame their dads for their problems. To compensate for their anger and fear they had to give off the aura of a bad ass.
Well, us old guys saw right through that and called these young men on it. All of them, I mean all of them were really nice people when you got through the personality that they were trying to project.
Jared was different though. The other young guys saw right through Jared. Jared was an immature young man that was lost. I really felt sorry for him at times and at other times I felt like kicking his ass. Jared really hadn't done much since high school. He thought that he was going to enter the University of Texas or Texas State University this fall. He was excited about it.
Like I said earlier, he came to rehab straight from the Dr. Oz show. He arrived with much fanfare. At first he thought that he didn't have to obey the rules that everyone else did. After all the owner of the rehab and the director of the rehab were there with him a lot.
Reality soon set in and he had to do his chores like everyone else. Reality was rough on him. They aired the Dr. Oz segment with him while he and I were still in rehab. The rehab facility would not allow the patients to see the show. They did allow Jared to see it.
He came to me after viewing the segment and he was sick. You see he had an intervention on national television. He said that he looked stupid and out of it. Not quite the glamor that he had envisioned.
It really became difficult for him after that. He didn't want anyone outside to know that he was the guy in the Dr. Oz show. He was ashamed of how he acted on air in front of a national television audience.
I "graduated" from rehab about a week before Jared "graduated". We exchanged phone numbers and he promised to call me when he got out. I tried several times to call, but the number he gave me was changed.
I didn't know it at the time, but I got a good phone number for Jared the day that he died. I called the number and all I got was his voice mail.
I will go into this more later, but all of these young men had a problem with God or their Higher Power. They just didn't believe and it made it all that more hard for them.
While I was in rehab, another young man, Chance, died from an overdose. He had "graduated" from rehab 2 weeks before I got there. They said he was a star in group therapy and knew what to do.
I called my sponsor and told him about Jared. He said that another young man, Scott, has just died.
That's 3 lives in less than 60 days. Alcohol and addictions KILL. Lives are lost to car wrecks involving drugs and alcohol. People die from overdoses. Those just our of rehab are really some of the most likely to die. They had gotten clean and their systems no longer had any drugs in them. They get out and decide to shoot up with the same amount that they had been doing prior to rehab. It kills them.
You know these are lives wasted. They were just as many young women in rehab too. We are talking about a disease of the mind. Some just never get it.
Jared was a special young man. Very smart and likable. RIP now Jared.
Mike Carlson
I wanted to include this you tube video, The Pusher. Please don't listen if it offends you. All I can say if there is someone that God should damn, that would be The Pusher.
Why Jared's Story
I started a spiritual journey a little over 90 days ago. I had an intervention and wound up in rehab for alcohol. Wow, I said it for the world to see. But you may want to know why I am calling this Jared's story.
About a week into rehab, Jared showed up. He had left the Dr. Oz show the day before and then sent from New York to Wimberley, Texas for rehab. You see, Jared was a heroin addict. He was 20 years old. Great looking kid. Came into rehab a little bit cocky because he had been on national television the day before. Jared would soon learn that he was with a bunch of alcoholics and addicts and television fame didn't mean anything to them.
I was in a cabin with two other guys and we were the oldest guys there. Jared started to hang around us. We spent hours just sitting around and talking. Jared was an angry young man. He came from a upper middle class family, but he was angry. I would suppose that Jared might be bi-polar, because some days he was on top of the world and some days he was angry and mad at the world.
We grew very fond of this young man. We thought that he had a chance to make it. Last week, Jared died of an overdose. Alcohol and addiction to drugs, legal and illegal, kills. I named this blog, Jared's story so that I never forget that or forget Jared.
So here I am on this spiritual journey and I believe that God wants me to share it with you. I want you to understand not to feel sorry for me, as I have found God again. I really don't know where this journey is going to take me, it's just important that I take this step. All I can say for sure, to take life one day at a time and try to stay in constant contact with God. Your welcome to take this journey with me and to comment along the way.
Mike Carlson
About a week into rehab, Jared showed up. He had left the Dr. Oz show the day before and then sent from New York to Wimberley, Texas for rehab. You see, Jared was a heroin addict. He was 20 years old. Great looking kid. Came into rehab a little bit cocky because he had been on national television the day before. Jared would soon learn that he was with a bunch of alcoholics and addicts and television fame didn't mean anything to them.
I was in a cabin with two other guys and we were the oldest guys there. Jared started to hang around us. We spent hours just sitting around and talking. Jared was an angry young man. He came from a upper middle class family, but he was angry. I would suppose that Jared might be bi-polar, because some days he was on top of the world and some days he was angry and mad at the world.
We grew very fond of this young man. We thought that he had a chance to make it. Last week, Jared died of an overdose. Alcohol and addiction to drugs, legal and illegal, kills. I named this blog, Jared's story so that I never forget that or forget Jared.
So here I am on this spiritual journey and I believe that God wants me to share it with you. I want you to understand not to feel sorry for me, as I have found God again. I really don't know where this journey is going to take me, it's just important that I take this step. All I can say for sure, to take life one day at a time and try to stay in constant contact with God. Your welcome to take this journey with me and to comment along the way.
Mike Carlson
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