"In The Face of Adversity, a Companions Love is a Powerful Anchor"- Serenity Paws

In my younger years I was introduced to the concept and application of substances to "feel good" and "have fun". It was a thing of youthful misconception. I dabbled in multiple drugs from the ages of 18 to 25, from something as innocent as a wine cooler or can of beer to marijuana to harder substances like ecstasy and cocaine, I sampled them like one would sample wine during a tasting. I was always able to, after a brief couple months splurge, give up the substance (especially when my personal life was on the brighter side) and walk away from it. But then life, as we all know, managed to find a new low. In my case it was a strained marriage, resulting in separation. Alcohol and weed, cheap and easy to obtain, were not doing the job of making me forget my problems and truth-be-told were exasperating my situations, creating a fine line that was already under duress. Then there was meth...

      It was such a simple thing to pick up a pipe and smoke for the first time, trying to find relief from my personal battles in life. It was so easy to think that I could be the outlier in the statistics and that I could "just try it", just like I had been able to before. My addiction started the second the smoke hit my lungs. I became infatuated with the feeling of being high and the way it allowed me to temporarily forget that I had an adult life and animals to attend to. At first it was just finding numbness on the weekends and outside of work, where I was kept busy with day-to-day machinations, but as my relationships with my husband, family and friends became strained, so increased my need for forgetting the feelings that came with the strain. Over the course of six months my network of friends and family faded to the background and I found that constant use of methamphetamine and alcohol would allow me to get through the day... And most nights, even if I didn't sleep. 

      The major hallucinations and manic, psychotic episodes began around month four. I was living in a sesspool of sex for drugs, finding someone to supply me with the means to get high and lying about pretty much everything to everybody, including myself. My body wasted away as my drug-driven brain forgot that food and nutrients were necessary for life, afterall I had an appetite depressor and plenty of liquids from wine. In two cases I was hospitalized for having deficient electrolytes, for being emaciated, and both times I was released only to continue getting high.

       Through it all my dogs, Giovanni and Tucker, were there, silent but steadfast companions in a turbulent situation. It was only when I was on my last string that I was able to understand how important they were to me. I was laid out on the floor, passed out from days upon days of no sleep and drinking and drugging. When I awoke I was unable to move and realized that I had two choices... One, I could let go of my physical body and pass into the beyond, or two, to keep going in life. When I looked up from my position on the floor, I saw my boys. In them I saw eternal love and companionship, in them I saw my reason for living and my reason for sobering up. 

         At that point I decided to seek assistance, I knew that I could not get myself back to "normal" on my own. But there was one hurdle that I could not get around. How do I care for my animals if I am in a treatment facility that doesn't allow pets? That was were Project Recovery came in. I found this program online in a desperate search to keep my animals and not have to relinquish them to a shelter. After all, I could not abandon them, especially after all the went through with me. Project Recovery helped so much! They took my boys in, cared for them in my absence, allowing me to focus on getting better both mentally and physically. 

           After three months, I had completed detox and rehab and graduated from a sober living house. Now, thanks to Project Recovery I am back with my babies, in a new home and they have been certified as ESA animals. I cannot thank the people in the program enough. They helped me in a very trying time in my life and cared for my animals as if they were their own. Now my life is bright and my outlook even brighter! 

           Thank you again to the staff at Project Recovery! I couldn't have started down the road to recovery without them!