Dear bloody God. GP visit was waste of time, Dr. said he had no involvement with substance abuse but advised AH not to cut down on drinking due to stroke risk. "Getting to detox is a long process..." Got home and there was a message from substance abuse service boss: "Getting to detox is a long process..."
I called her back and said, "Great, so step one in this long process is what?" She basically referred me to counsellor. We don't have a telephone number for counsellor. I told her that AH has been asking for help getting to detox for month, would like some support from getting from A to B. I actually began to get choked up and I apologised, saying I didn't mean to be difficult but I was very concerned for him.
AH has gone to pub. At this point I'm about to become an alcoholic my damn self.
I wrote an email to counsellor, see below, names changed to protect the useless:
Dear Counsellor,
AH and I went to the Town Health Centre this morning for the liver function test and GP review as you requested. AH was asking me to help him get into detox today.
Dr. GP was not sure what we wanted, but recommended that AH not reduce amount he's drinking due to health risks. Otherwise he referred us to [substanse abuse service], he had no notes about treatment process and said he could do nothing about helping AH towards detox. Regarding the liver function test, he said that if it were done this morning the results would be on the system probably by the end of the week. He said he didn't intend to review results, but that [substance abuse service] would do this.
Dr. GP didn't examine AH, I asked about AH's swollen legs and he only mused that it might be due to liver problems. I asked whether I ought to take AH to A&E and Dr. GP said no.
Got a message from Ms. [substance abuse services director] that the next steps in getting AH to detox are:
1. Home visit with me present
2. An unspecified amount of additional counselling sessions.
AH is asking me on a daily basis now to help him stop drinking and get into a medically supervised detox programme. He is also heavily intoxicated and therefore has not been able to arrange on his own the required preliminary tests, diaries, etc.
I believe you mentioned that AH is scheduled for an appointment with yourself this Thursday afternoon at 4:00. Could this be the home visit? If I act now I can arrange things to be home from work that day by 4:00.
Kind regards,
akrasia