Back for a Different Reason

            I came to the Stephen Center on August 19th, 2003.  Two mornings earlier I had wrecked my car and had gotten my third DUI.  I knew about the Stephen Center HERO program from a previous shelter stay about two years earlier.  I guess that time I had not yet hit my rock bottom.  Here is my story.
            In April 2003, I lost my job and soon found myself living in my car.  I was collecting unemployment, so I wasn’t totally without means.  I also lived in a cabin out on the Platte River.  It had no electricity or running water.  I spent most of my time so drunk that I didn’t know what time of day it was or even the day of the week.  My eyes were solid red a lot of the time from the pressure of throwing up.  I threw up quite often due to the fact that I never ate solid foods.  I came into town once a week to pick up my unemployment check.  This went on for months.  The month of July was horrible.  I went to Detox twice just to sober up for a few days-get rid of the shakes, help my body accept solid foods.  But once I felt better, I would leave and go back out and drink again.  By now the drinking and the depression were at an all time high.  So I went to the Spring Center, a crisis center, two times as well.  Again, I would leave when I felt a little better and go out and do what I did best to combat the depression, DRINK!
            Then the inevitable happened one morning in August, when I was coming into town-still drunk from the night before or hung over as I call it.  When I was driving, a sand and gravel truck put me into the ditch.  There it was, DUI-number 3!  After spending a day in the hospital, I went to the Stephen Center.  It was supper time, but I wasn’t hungry for the obvious reasons.  After the supper crowd left, Maggie checked me into the shelter.  Maggie knew right away (the way she always does!) that I wasn’t feeling well.  At the time I thought that I probably had walking pneumonia.  The next day Maggie hooked me up with Holly from the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) and that got the ball rolling for my medical treatment.  I found that the next HERO class did not start for 6 weeks.  At that time you had to be out of the building every day by 8:00 am.  For the next 6 weeks-during the day, while I waited for the program to start, I went to many Doctor Appointments and spent time at my mom and dads house.  It was hard for me to stay sober.  The alcohol withdrawals were horrible-constantly shaking, sweating, and never able to eat, having to take pulmonary medicine just added to the misery.  Right before the HERO program started I was diagnosed with early stages Emphysema.  I guess everybody pays for what they have done, one way or another.
            The HERO program helped me deal with not only my addiction and its many separate issues but also helped me get the proper medical care-both physical and mental.  Some of my issues were under some sort of control within the 90 day program; others I found would take much longer.  I was fortunate to be accepted into the Stephen Center’s Transitional Living after HERO graduation, it was a major life saver.  While living in my own apartment, I was able to get my mental and physical health back to some sense of normal.  It took a year to get my mental health and my pulmonary meds worked out-at the same time I worked on dealing with my addiction. I also was able to clear up my legal matters (my DUI 3rd offense, it was reduced to a 2nd offense on a technicality).  It took almost two years for my Social Security Disability from lung disease to clear the necessary channels.  In Transitional Housing you have time to repair yourself-your mental self, your physical self-before you go back out into the real world.  I lived in Transitional Housing from March 2004 to March of 2006, until just recently when I moved into the Livestock Exchange Apartments, ready to be on my own!
            Thanks to Stephen Center, the HERO Program and Transitional living!  I now have a new lease on life.  Thank you to the entire staff and all of the volunteers that have helped me on my way!

“Live Within the Day”         
   John

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