Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
I went to court on Monday for my DUI charge. The DUI isn't for drinking and driving. I took a Klonopin before work and got into an accident. I did not know the medication would impair my ability to drive, since I tried it on the weekend and I felt fine. The police arrested and charged me with a DUI even after I explained what had happened. They drew my blood at the police station and checked for illegal substances. The only thing that showed up were the three medications that were prescribed by my doctor. Even though I had a letter of explaination from psychiatrist explaining the reasons for the medications and that I was taking them at the prescribed doses, the DA chose to move forward and prosecute.
So my sentencing was on Monday. I received a $1600 fine, which I am choosing to work off doing community service, and I have to attend three months of drug and alcohol classes. The court did not suspend my license, but they did forward the charges to the DMV and my attorney says that they can still suspend my license for up to six months, even though the incident happened sixteen months ago. If my license does get suspended, I will be permitted to drive to and from work ONLY. I don't know if I will even be able to drive my kids to and from school. difficult child 1 will be attending a school next year that is not close by. Walking would not be an option.
Of course I also need the car to get around town and get groceries, go to church, etc. The only grocery store close enough to walk to would take about an hour to get there. It will be a great hardship for me to lose my driving abilities. We live in a large city and I depend on my car for everything. I know there are people out there who survive by taking the bus or walking, but honestly I'm already so overwhelmed by life as it is and not being able to drive would put a great deal of stress on me. Just the thought of going to the drug and alcohol classes after work is stressing me out.
Normally I take my night time pills at six with dinner. They have to be taken with food or they do not work. I cannot sleep without them. I mean no sleep whatsoever. difficult child 1 is on the same medication and she can't sleep at all without it either. It takes approximately twelve hours for the medication to get out of the system. I cannot drive with the medications still in my system so that is why I take them at six so I will not feel tired when I need to drive the next day at 6:45. Taking these night time classes is going to screw up my whole medication schedule. I won't be able to take the medication until probably nine at night, which means the pill will still affect me when I have to drive to work the next day.
Luckily I don't work in the summer so I don't have to worry about early driving then, but for now I am still working until my vacation starts on July 1st. I don't know how I'm going to get around this.
Not to mention the kids' dad. Usually I we meet half way when I drop them off on Friday, and then I pick them up at a meeting place a few minutes away from where they live on Sunday. Their dad lives an hour and a half away by car. If I lose my driving privileges and can no longer get them on weekend visits, I'm afraid he will use it against me. He may even use my DUI against me in court when he attempts to gain custody of them. I have so many thoughts running around in my head right now. This DMV issue is really stressing me out right now. I dread going to the mailbox and having the possibility of seeing a letter of suspension from the DMV in there. I am totally stressing out about this and I would appreciate any good thoughts or prayers right about now. Right now I feel so overwhelmed.
So my sentencing was on Monday. I received a $1600 fine, which I am choosing to work off doing community service, and I have to attend three months of drug and alcohol classes. The court did not suspend my license, but they did forward the charges to the DMV and my attorney says that they can still suspend my license for up to six months, even though the incident happened sixteen months ago. If my license does get suspended, I will be permitted to drive to and from work ONLY. I don't know if I will even be able to drive my kids to and from school. difficult child 1 will be attending a school next year that is not close by. Walking would not be an option.
Of course I also need the car to get around town and get groceries, go to church, etc. The only grocery store close enough to walk to would take about an hour to get there. It will be a great hardship for me to lose my driving abilities. We live in a large city and I depend on my car for everything. I know there are people out there who survive by taking the bus or walking, but honestly I'm already so overwhelmed by life as it is and not being able to drive would put a great deal of stress on me. Just the thought of going to the drug and alcohol classes after work is stressing me out.
Normally I take my night time pills at six with dinner. They have to be taken with food or they do not work. I cannot sleep without them. I mean no sleep whatsoever. difficult child 1 is on the same medication and she can't sleep at all without it either. It takes approximately twelve hours for the medication to get out of the system. I cannot drive with the medications still in my system so that is why I take them at six so I will not feel tired when I need to drive the next day at 6:45. Taking these night time classes is going to screw up my whole medication schedule. I won't be able to take the medication until probably nine at night, which means the pill will still affect me when I have to drive to work the next day.
Luckily I don't work in the summer so I don't have to worry about early driving then, but for now I am still working until my vacation starts on July 1st. I don't know how I'm going to get around this.
Not to mention the kids' dad. Usually I we meet half way when I drop them off on Friday, and then I pick them up at a meeting place a few minutes away from where they live on Sunday. Their dad lives an hour and a half away by car. If I lose my driving privileges and can no longer get them on weekend visits, I'm afraid he will use it against me. He may even use my DUI against me in court when he attempts to gain custody of them. I have so many thoughts running around in my head right now. This DMV issue is really stressing me out right now. I dread going to the mailbox and having the possibility of seeing a letter of suspension from the DMV in there. I am totally stressing out about this and I would appreciate any good thoughts or prayers right about now. Right now I feel so overwhelmed.
