Author: Living with the Devil
Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:15 am
Thank you smnell and lilyval for sharing your Sub experience. Yes I have full rights of disclosure from any of my daughter’s medical providers past, present and future, signed, notarized and filed in court. Her Sub doctor is not going along with the program. Herefuses to talk to me. Maybe he will talk to the DEA.
My daughter who has been on Sub for 8 yrs. seems to be doing better. About the only saving thing I can say about the place she is in is that they give her a urine test whenever she leaves (on a pass issued with a 10 PM curfew) and comes back, which is frequent. I have yet to hear back from her caseworker if the strips they are using are for Buprenorphine.
She has been going to the free classes outside this non-profit rehab facility and the mandatory group sessions inside for which she gets stars stamped on a card. When filled, you can purchase things from the commissary like used clothing, lice combs, plastic sheets and soap, but no food. That is the duty of the food service dept. who doles out daily iceburg lettuce with no dressing, boiled chicken and cantaloupe.
Because she is only hooked on Suboxone, considered by most to be The Cure for opiate addiction, she has had to create other qualifying symptoms to stay there. She said she has been beaten by her boyfriend. The truth is she had not had a date since High School. Her husband died of Testicular Cancer on Sept. 3, 2003. And she has no friends.
Until now.
Yesterday, Sept. 3, she had a 26 yr. old Meth addict bring her home so she could attend her 14 yr. old daughter’s Birthday Party. Since she missed the last eight and was neither invited nor expected, there was no fanfare from her daughter upon arrival. She said she was court-ordered into the facility after serving a 2 yr. prison term and 6 mos. in jail. She has three children ages, 8, 5 and 3. All were adopted at the beginning of her prison term. She was married to her dealer and manufacturer. They were sweethearts at 14, hooked by 15. Her mother died 1 month ago and she did not attend the funeral. She was a crack addict.
My daughter was pretty euphoric when she got here. Her pupils seemed to be normal, lacking the Vaseline-like glossiness I see when she is taking Sub. On the unexpected visit prior to this, when she and three of her fellow inmates took the train here expecting to get my spare car, her eyes were lit up like fireworks. I couldn’t detect a pupil at all.
Physically she has a torn tendon on the back of her thigh, a herniated disc and 4 teeth that need pulling or pulped out. (I’m so glad I spent $5,000 on braces). Once a month a team of 15 doctors and dentists descend upon the facility on a one day marathon to quick-fix the medical needs of the Center’s poplulation. You don’t want to have an abcess on the day after they leave because you will have it for 29 days.
My daughter is getting a complete physical on Sept. 10 to qualify for Medicaid insurance. Hopefully she will get the tendon-repairing operation she needs, She limps and yelps with every step and walking blocks to her outside AA meetings are unbearable. For this, the center gives her a Tylenol. I am so hoping she gets this insurance so she can get ongoing help for her addiction and mental health issues when she gets out of this 8 week program.
As for the pain you feel when you are at the bottom of the pit, I don’t think she’s there yet. There was no emotion coming from her when we sang Happy Birthday to her daughter, which was also the anniversay of her husband’s death.
Her Meth friend cried like a baby.
