new here
I'm a wife of a addict/alcoholic. We've been together for 29 years, 25 of them married.
He was a drug user back in 1987, when I was pregnant with our first child. He entered rehab in 1988 and was clean for 18 years.
He started using prescription drugs and when the debt piled high he turned to drinking to forget about it. He drank off and on till the end of last year he started drinking heavily. I noticed changes but thought it was his medications since the side effects were the same as being in a drunken state.
In early February he was taken from the house by ambulance and was diagnosed with alcohol poisoning. He called me from the er and told me he needed and wanted help, which I vowed to do. We got him into a detox and the kids and I took him. He was released a week later and put into an intensive out patient program where he still goes. He makes his meetings and has been doing well for the past sixty some days.
I found out my annual mammo was abnormal and so was the follow up ultrasound. I have an appt with a breast surgeon for Wednesday. I turned to him for support. Yesterday he turned to alcohol as a way of dealing. He was honest when I confronted him and reached out to the counselor and his sponsor. The sponsor called back and told him they would talk today since talking while he was under the influence would do no good.
We had a long talk and he has vowed to get back on the road to recovery. This is a "slip". He hated the taste of alcohol, the way it made him feel and realizes this was more harm than help. He wants to go back into intensive outpatient rather than the one day of week do four days like before. He's scared. His family has a history of abuse and his father was abusive as an alcoholic. He wants to beat this for a better life for himself which will inturn provide a better life for us. He has the tools, knows them but this time chose to ignore them.
I'm hoping this was a slip and not the return to hell. I need him now more than ever but know I can't place that on him. He wants to be there for me.
He says he dedicated to getting back on the right path and will do whatever it takes. He chose to reach out for support on his own, which is a positive. He realizes this wasn't the answer, another positive. He wants to be clean and sober and has once again made it his goal.
I came here for support. I know none of us has the answers but know I can learn from others.