Another Life Lesson Begins Tomorrow

I consider myself a life-long learner, or student so to speak.  I like to learn new things.  Some of the things I have had the chance to learn are NOT what I would choose to learn, but rather the result of life's relentless sense of humor towards me.  

One of those lessons was how the county penal system works and all the BS and inefficiencies that can be found there.  Really, wtf? If they were any other business, they'd be fired or go out of business... but that's right, we're talking about the jails in America... there's not shortage of patrons to these facilities so it matters not just how good or bad they are... they are needed and are run horribly.

Well tomorrow, I get to learn a new thing... how the state system of correctional facilities operates... and boy, oh boy, am I super excited to learn... NOT!  But I want to visit my son, I missed seeing him before he was sent 'upstate' at the county facility because of the Carters,Edisons and Einsteins employed by them!

I have done research on various posts over the years on what I can expect.  Thank goodness others have shared this information for us 'newbies' to gather and prepare... if I went there blindly, I'd be so much more upset.  There's no information online that tells you the ins and outs of the process and what to expect.

Believe me, I hope to go with an open mind... at least my expectations are not set too high... Oh and his next stint at the next facility in a few months will be one heck of a joyride too! Can you hear the sarcasm in my typing?

More to come... or not!  Depends on how I do.  

Just a prayer for me to be able to overcome being too upset seeing him in his new environment... please.  Wish me luck.

Tootles Dahlings
~M

Dahlings... UPDATE... I received another letter from the cellie himself just in time to let me know that no visitors until after July 4th... he's sequestered for 30 days... so THIS life lesson isn't happening today... but maybe later in the summer when I can.

#prisonlife #crimedoesntpay #crime #criminal #drugskill #heroinekills #ihateheroin #prison #statecorrectionalfacility #pastatecorrectionalfacility #ilovemyson #shithappens

Heroin Kills Period... Continued

Wasn't she a beautiful person? 

Crystal was revived and placed on life support with the dimmest of prognosis.  Her chances of pulling through were slim.

10 days she remained on life support,
10 days of agonizing pain and sadness.
10 days of nightmares, reliving the odd circumstances that transpired that fateful evening.
10 days of visiting the CICU to talk aloud to her lifeless body, as the machine pumped oxygen into her lungs.
10 long, exhausting, sad days.

During this time, I found myself wondering if I was having a nightmare and would awaken.  Sooooo much transpired and sooo much was found out... I felt like I was living an episode of the Showtime series Shameless.

This world of drugs and addicts was so far away from the life I lead.

We found out from the hospital that Crystal had been to the same ER on the day before New Year's Eve.  Apparently she was having a hard time breathing after doing heroin and she came to the ER, where they administered Narcan and once she felt better and could breathe again, she signed herself out, to their dismay.  Her mother figured out that that day, December 30, was the day she got out of rehab...  so this poor young lady had been in rehab in December too, got out and used then too.

OMG, same pattern but this time, was different. How horrifying this was to me, I had no idea and to the best of my knowledge, based on her mother's, brother's and my son's reaction they did not know about that ER visit.

Let me back track a bit.... to when my son and I were in the CICU waiting room... we were there before her mother and brother arrived.  I never met them but my son had.  From what Crystal had told me, she did not get along with either of them.  Her mother was an alcoholic and brother was in trouble with the law, he had been arrested for having a portable meth lab in his car.

First thing the mother said to my son was, We don't blame you, so you can tell us the truth, were you using with her?  The only people to blame for this is her, her father and me.

One of the conversations I had in the waiting room with the brother was how he didn't understand why she did stuff until she passed out... he didn't like to get high and pass out, instead he like to get high and just chill.  He never partied with her but he knew she would get to the point where she passed out.

Another one of the conversations went along the lines of me saying that in the short time I knew her, I found her to be very caring, sweet and personable... to which her brother replied, that's because she didn't know you.. if she did, she'd be a real bitch and fight with you.

Mind you, these were some of the conversations we had while waiting to be able to go back and see her... I honestly thought I was on an episode of SHAMELESS with William H. Macy... her family life was so dysfuntional, no wonder this child had issues.

On the 10th day, her parents made the sad decision to remove her from life support and once the ventilator was removed, she passed on peacefully.

More to come in another post.

#IHateHeroin #WarOnDrugs #HeroinKills #HeroinKillsMoreThanTheAddict #HeroinRuinsLives