Today's day was quite a bit more relaxing than yesterday. As usual, the day starts with a 6am wake up. Blood pressure and weigh-in. I've run 6.2 miles (10K) each day since getting here and even with that, plus all the puking yesterday, I've only lost 3 pounds (which is good since I'm not here for weight reduction). This is really a testament to the copious amount of food available. They have a great cafeteria which will basically make anything we want. There is a item of the day but they'll whip up pretty much anything. I've actually been really good about my intake and have been focusing on healthy foods. Generally I have oatmeal for breakfast and heavy on the vegetables/salad for the rest of the day. Trying to keep meat as a side dish and not a main course. Following the final meeting of the day they put out a tray of raw vegetables, ham and turkey sandwiches and tasty cookies. This usually happens at 9pm and is meant for the patients who have missed meals for obvious reasons.
The day today was full of great group meetings, my 1st "Sleepy" and a 1:1 meeting with a counselor to discuss the responses I gave while sedated (my subconsious tell-all).
The first meeting focused on the Domestication piece discussed in the Four Agreements book. An excellent discussion of how we develop our beliefs and thoughts of what we consider to be acceptable behaviors. The second meeting was a great discussion of how alcohol, opiates, marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine affect the dopamine receptors in the brain. Essentially this was a great biology review of why we crave and get so damn crazy when we're on the drug of choice. The third meeting was with a bunch of previous graduates who shared tales of reentry into the real world.
The sedation therapy was actually kind of cool. They wheeled us into a room in a sort of reclining chair and insert an IV line. The anesthesiologist then starts the drip while the counselor starts asking a series of questions. I swear that the last thing I remember is joking a bit with the counselor and then waking up. I'm thinking that the follow-up interview will be extremely boring since I'm sure that if I did say anything that it must have been incoherent. To my surprise the follow-up interview actually had fairly long, involved responses which were prefectly coherent and seemingly well thought. Gratefully, there were no real surprises which means that I've been pretty honest since commiting to recovery.
Tomorrow is my second Duffy. I've heard this is a real doozy so I'll be sure to share the gritty details. Apparently during this Duffy treatment they administer the "Butterfly" which has been quite a challenge for most in the extreme lower intestine area...if you know what I mean.
I'm a bit bummed that I lose my roommate tomorrow. I've been very fortunate to have my new friend from BC to show me the ropes and answer a bunch of my questions. He is scheduled for his 5th and final Duffy and then discharged around noon. He's definitely my hero and actually made a great comment at the Gratitude meeting this evening. J mentioned that we all came here to get our addictions addressed but the big surprise is that we'd take away tools and information to actually make us better human beings, aside from coming out of here sober. I appreciate this thoughtful comment and firmly believe he is spot on.
I had a chance to read more of the book from Kathleen S, titled "Drink Up". If you'd like to learn more details of the program, I encourage you to read this book. It is very accurate and much better written than this blog. The only thing that has changed slightly is the schedule of Duffy's whereas Kathleen had her first 3 back-to-back. This has changed as they now alternate the Duffy's every other day. Everything else Kathleen writes really touches my heart since as I've mentioned before, folks here have so much in common.
We had one old timer stop by who had is treatment back in 1969 (and he's been sober ever since!). He said that back in his time they gave the Duffy's on each of the 10 days and had to share a room with 4 other patients!!! He didn't mention hiking 2 miles in the snow each way to the treatment and since he's a 4 Agreement subscriber, I believe him. I'm just grateful that Schick has modified the Duffy schedule.
Good night for now...
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