Landing at the North Pole

I want to start out by once again thanking everyone for their kind letters and e-mails. You guys don't know how much it means to me. That comes from from the bottom of my heart.

I arrived at the new hospital -- buried in three feet of snow -- for my six month program last Thursday. I left the hospital in New York that day at 5:30 in the morning. I didn't want to spend another night in that shithole.

Although I started my sobriety there, that doesn't mean that there weren't any obstacles. We were not allowed to leave the ward except to get x-rays, MRIs, and to go the ER. It was not necessarily bad except that there was no air circulation in the ward. Several vets got blody noses and the heat was often over 100 degrees. The food service.... well, I won't even go there. They were short staffed and we ran many of our own meetings and groups. The blind leading the blind! Right? Were weren't allowed to have have water in our rooms. Why? Who knows!! There were many other problems

There was also a bunch of in-fighting. For example, two guys, who were heroin addicts, argued about who was better. One guy thought he was better because he snorted and didn't shoot up! Are you kidding me, Batman? No explanation! There were many other problems. I wondered if Page Six would be interested in the problems the vets had there.

As many times as I thought about quitting, I walked out of there sober. For that, I am grateful ... and healthier for it -- 26 days sober. And I've put on 15 pounds of muscle.

So last Thursday I went back to Brooklyn to get the rest of my things and have real breakfast. After I packed up and headed to the Port authority terminal for 6 hour trek to my new home for 6 months or more.

I arrived here that evening at around 8:20 and checked into the hospital for the night -- it was pretty relaxing actually, with food and TV. What more could I ask for? They make everyone stay in the hospital for the night. They do this because some vets show up drunk. Smart, right? The next morning they picked me up to take me over to the domicilary -- which is very nice in a country way. I forgot to mention that there are 3 bars right outside the campus -- one being the titty bar. Convenient, eh!

I checked in my room and ate. I just kind of chilled out for the rest of the day. Checked with the nurse. I ended up playing spades until 1 AM. Tired I was not. Weekends are very quiet here. No classes, jusdt AA and NA meetings. I went to both.

Depression continues to be an issue for me. I'm very lonely here and the medication has not done the trick. The gym is open today, so maybe that will help me out. I keep thinking about how far I've made it. Thankful for everyone's support, but I still feel alone. I will just have to cool it and do a plus and minus list.

I will sign out of this blog on a bright note. I am writing this with a hard-on. My sleep medication is Travidon which gives you an erection. Strange, right? It seems like its inviting me to plasy before I go to bed.

That's it for now. Love to everyone from the snowbank.

Rod.