FF - Thinking of you. I had that exact same feeling last time I relapsed. I was awake all night half-drunk, quarter shame-ridden and quarter insomniac due to envisaging what work would be like the next day. I ended up calling in sick at the final hour and breaking my company's absence code; not the best when I'd only been there 5 minutes. But the whole dreadful scenario reminded me why I am aiming for sobriety and why I need to make it paramount. You will get to thinking the same when a few days have passed, I promise.
Emme - If I were you, I would have a casual word before the event and say 'hmm, I'm not sure whether to go because I'm on pain meds for toothache and won't be able to drink. I might just sit this one out.' They will then convince you to go and can't persuade you to drink/buy you drinks when you have seemingly done them a favour by still agreeing to be there. The IOP thing is tricky though. Could you offer to work different days/go in earlier and finish earlier and say you are taking on a course or night class?
Midton and forabetterlife - Please don't feel you can't post because you are repeating yourselves; newbies like myself never heard you in the first place and I'm sure what you say is really valuable. Repetition is sometimes a positive anyhow; if you tell me something enough times I WILL listen and will be forced to take it on board. Sure many others feel the same. Post away!
It's lunchtime here on my day 4. Had an amazing, uninterrupted sleep and, despite a somewhat stressful and emotionally provoking phone call from a friend last night, I feel so positive and ready to take on what ever life throws at me. I'm looking forward to AA tonight, have a 12-hour care shift tomorrow and then am working all weekend. That'll keep me out of trouble but I'm also future planning in that I know I may feel a 'deserve a treat' after working that hard. I don't want to relapse early next week so I need to sort out plans to see friends on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening (even if I'm knackered from work, we can sit and watch a DVD with some ice-cream). I am trying to apply the military manta that I use for everything else in life to my sobriety; the 6 Ps (Prior planning prevents p*ss poor performance) :P