In the span of the month from late May to late June before I started my trip, I was in the hospital three times. First time for emergency surgery to f ix a bowel obstruction. The surgeon removed ten inches of my small intestine. Two days after I was released from the hospital I was back in through the ER for possible internal bleeding. It took them five days to be sure I wasn't bleeding. Then a couple of weeks later I went back for scheduled surgery to clean out the gunk in my left carotid artery ... just like the anti-smoking ads have been showing on TV. And yes, I had smoked for over 30 years, quiting in 1985 as I got off my flight from Seattle to Anchorage.
Besides the stress of the operations, I am on dialysis. I had to arrange for dialysis in Fairbanks while I am here. That had its complications, and there is adjusting to new medical personnel at the Fairbanks clinic who are not as familiar with me as the staff at my home clinic.
But I didn't drink ... even though two of my best friends do. The other is in recovery like I am and we have a perpetual 12-step program underway whenever we are together.
AA works ... for this alcoholic. On April 1st it was 15 years since I had my last drink. And if I don't drink, I don't get drunk. Now why was that so hard to understand?
Notes & References:
Forty-two personal stories of recovery from alcoholism can be found in the AA Big Book available online at www.aa.org/bigbookonline/.
The website of Alcoholics Anonymous is www.aa.org
The link to the Big Book of AA is www.aa.org/bigbookonline/
The link to finding AA meetings is www.aa.org/lang/en/meeting_finder.cfm
The above websites are available in English, Español, and Français.
No comments:
Post a Comment