- Drugs
As most of you who read my posts already know, I have 24 glorious years of recovery today. I used from 1967 to 1989. My drug of choice was anything I could get my hands on. I was a major dealer in Alaska for almost 20 years. I was also a guitar player in a rock and roll band from 1967 to 1984. I then played in church from 1990 to 2010. I have seen the entire musical spectrum from performing to being a professional radio DJ for 35 years of my life. I worked in radio in Alaska, Oregon, Montana and Arizona. I had the choice in 1989 to go to prison for 85 days or to treatment for 30 days. I had already been to prison for selling four ounces of cocaine back in 1979. I opted for treatment. Only once I was there did I discover my dependency on drugs. I am not going to waste your time telling war stories because I can’t type that long.
When I had six years clean, I found out I was a full-blown diabetic. God put 300 syringes underneath my sink and I couldn’t get loaded. Is that a funny joke or what? So I held meetings three times a week for seven years in the town where I lived in Alaska. Over the next 11 years, I moved around to five different radio stations. In 2005, I had major spinal surgery which really screwed up my radio voice. In 2006, the VA doctors put me on a drug called Avandia for my diabetes. It has three potential side effects: pancreatitis, ketoacidosis and heart attacks. In September of 2006, I contracted the first two and lost 41 lbs. Then in January of 2007, I had a major heart attack. I was flown to Las Vegas, NV, for open heart surgery. I had a triple bypass and died on the table for seven minutes. I recovered from that and, a year later, had another heart attack because one of the bypasses was blocked. Life went on until February of 2009 when my Uncle John died of throat cancer. 15 days later, a long-time recovery group member was murdered in Phoenix. In April, my wife’s 12 year old German Shepherd died of cancer. On April 14th, I crushed my right lower leg. On May 1st, my brother-in-law died of pancreatic cancer.
I then took my wife to Alaska to see where I grew up and all the radio stations I worked at. I also went to get my 20 year recovery coin. The same man who also gave me my six year coin gave me my 20 year coin. We had been taking care of my 87 year old father for six years. Six days after we got back from Alaska, my dad passed away. We took him home to be laid to rest in Pennsylvania. Six days after we got back from that trip, my mom passed away. My parents had been divorced for 42 years. A few months after that, I had a sponsee with 15 years of sobriety commit suicide. He died before the plunger hit bottom. To top it all off, I had an aunt die from alcohol poisoning on Christmas Eve.
So after going through all that without using, I figured God was done testing me. But I was wrong. I had another heart attack and had to have an angioplasty done. In September of 2010, I managed to break three bones in my left foot and tear my left ACL while playing wiffle ball. Only I could pull that trick off. I also have had two surgeries on my left elbow, surgery on both shoulders, dual carpal tunnel surgery, three hernia surgeries and a gall bladder removal surgery.
In October of 2012, my wife Cheryl applied for a job in Hawaii. By mid-November they had called her back and offered her a higher paying job. So we had two garage sales, sold my Grand Cherokee and moved to Hawaii. Now I am just a guitar-playing beach bum who runs a mobile DJ service and am totally happy. Thanks for reading this. It’s just a part of the story. I hope you read something that will f**k up your next using. Remember that recovery is a Journey, Not a destination. Use the rest stops that God provides along the way.
I want to send big hugs to all my family, my NA family and my friends. Most of all, I want to thank my wife Cheryl and God for getting me this far.