HereWeGoAgain
Grandpa
I've mentioned several times that last year our difficult child took off on Christmas Day, so we spent the afternoon slowly realizing that she wasn't coming home from the "meeting" and we were about to embark on the downward spiral once more (hence my user name).
This Christmas is a different story. She "hit bottom" two months after she ran, when her "boyfriend" raped her while she was having a seizure (brought on by not taking her thyroid medicine). She got herself admitted to detox, then went through 60 days of a ninety day rehab program. She was kicked out for not returning from a doctor visit for the thyroid problem on time, but that was not her fault. The county hospital kept her waiting 20 hours and she wasn't able to check in with the rehab center.
So she came home and it really seems (crossing everything and knocking on wood) that she is a different person. She has stayed off drugs, made meetings (real ones!) continually, gotten a sponsor, and not "dated" anyone (that's her euphemism) since February. She has gotten a full time job which she really likes and does well at, no tardies or absences at all. She is paying rent pretty regularly and saving money or at least keeping a positive bank balance. She is still a slob (clean, but not neat, as per the Teenaged Daughter Owner's Manual (see the Watercooler)).
I hope this will be a light at the end of the tunnel story for parents who are at a different phase. It's been a long long time getting to this point, and there is always the fear of another crash, but things are better than they've been in a long, long time.
This Christmas is a different story. She "hit bottom" two months after she ran, when her "boyfriend" raped her while she was having a seizure (brought on by not taking her thyroid medicine). She got herself admitted to detox, then went through 60 days of a ninety day rehab program. She was kicked out for not returning from a doctor visit for the thyroid problem on time, but that was not her fault. The county hospital kept her waiting 20 hours and she wasn't able to check in with the rehab center.
So she came home and it really seems (crossing everything and knocking on wood) that she is a different person. She has stayed off drugs, made meetings (real ones!) continually, gotten a sponsor, and not "dated" anyone (that's her euphemism) since February. She has gotten a full time job which she really likes and does well at, no tardies or absences at all. She is paying rent pretty regularly and saving money or at least keeping a positive bank balance. She is still a slob (clean, but not neat, as per the Teenaged Daughter Owner's Manual (see the Watercooler)).
I hope this will be a light at the end of the tunnel story for parents who are at a different phase. It's been a long long time getting to this point, and there is always the fear of another crash, but things are better than they've been in a long, long time.
