Greetings from Portland
 

Hi Everyone,

I'm Steve and I'm an alcoholic. I live in Portland Oregon USA. I've been lurking on this site for over a year, but just now registered to post.

I'm 56 yo and recently finished 17 days in rehab. I'm home now and will begin out-patient treatment on Monday. I expect to do at least 10 days in OP, work the Smart Recovery program and supplement those by attending meetings and visiting the SR website. I have a sponsor on board and a positive support network.

My story is much like most drinkers. Short version is that my moderately heavy beer drinking was manageable until it wasn't. Getting hammered at a basketball game in which my 15 year-old daughter had to drive home from (and subsequently called me out on) was the last straw. I woke up at 5am on the couch in my clothes and realized I had hit bottom. So, I went upstairs, packed some clothes and woke up the kids to tell them I was going to go somewhere to get better.

I took an Uber to the hospital and they directed me to the ER where a nice, very competent social worker found me a detox/recovery center and arranged for a taxi to take me. Detox was a blur (not surprising because I had a BAC of .20 at 10am after not drinking since midnight). The treatment center was great. I learned a lot and met some really great people that I hope to keep in touch with for many years to come.

Anyway, I'm feeling very good right now and looking forward to this next chapter in my life. I know that "talking" with all of you will be very beneficial to me maintaining my sobriety and thriving in this new reality.

I have many more details that I plan on sharing, but this will have to do for now. I just wanted to make sure I got the ball rolling by saying hello.

Steve

Hi! Glad you are here!

Welcome Steve

You've been lurking a while so I don't need to tell you how great this place is.

Hi StevePDX, welcome.

It's great to meet you, Steve! Congratulations for making this life changing decision.

I found that sharing my thoughts here really helped with the anxiety & adjustment to my new life. We're learning to live differently, and knowing we're not alone is so important. Congrats on your 17 days free of it!

Welcome Steve. You will find lots of support here. Your story is so common of the things we have all done and survived. I'm glad you posted and are on the road to recovery. It sounds like you have a great start and have a good plan in place. Keep posting and let us know how it's going.

Welcome Steve!

Welcome Steve, and I'm glad you decided to post. It sounds like you have a good recovery plan in place.

Welcome aboard Steve. Yes, talking things through here has definitely been very helpful to me.

Welcome to the family Steve! :grouphug: Glad you decided to join us. :)

Glad to have you join us Steve - welcome :)

D

Sounds good, Steve. Clinical OP treatment and AA provided me the much-needed kick in the ass to stay sober. It's very doable and reaps huge benefits. Welcome...

Hi Steve, welcome to SR!

Welcome!! I've been to Portland only once several years ago. It's a beautiful city. Powell's books was near my hotel. Green. Beautiful. I absolutely loved it. Anyway, welcome.

In air traffic control, your user name would be SteveKPDX. The K means you are in the continental US. Welcome and don't hesitate to post.

Welcome to the posting side of SR Steve! It sounds like your experience with the ER and Detox were really positive, that’s awesome. You also seem to have a pretty solid plan to continue to get a nice chunk of sobriety under you.

This site has helped me to stay sober for four years. I’m looking forward to getting to know you!

Welcome Steve.

I'm 47 days sober and can attribute a lot of my success to coming here, to SR.

You sound as if to have a very healthy plan in place. Congratulations on making the decision to quit. Your daughter will be so proud of you.

Hope to see you posting real soon. :)

Hi Steve, welcome to SR, hope to see you posting regularly.

Welcome to SR Steve

On going treatment is vital, whatever form it takes, a program and meetings was a huge part of my recovery.

It's exactly like going to the gym to start building muscles. If you stop going and lifting, the new muscles stay around for a while but eventually, if you don't start up again, you end up back at square one.

Muscle loss won't kill you, but alcoholism, untreated, can and does.

Keep up the good work 💪👍