Well, I am attempting to remain consistent, so I will talk about today. Let me say getting home last night after 2 am then waking up after 7 to make the bus and be at site on time was ROUGH. But I didn’t want to be late. I was feeling terrible, but I can’t skip any days. So I sucked it up, got dressed quickly, and made it for the bus. You know how there’s those times in life that are SO perfectly timed? That happened with my buses to and from site today. It was so awesome because I was so tired by the time I had left today. But in the morning, let me tell you. I SLEPT my ass off on the bus. Maybe not deeeeeeep sleep, but it was nice. I know my parents would kill me right now if they read this and knew I slept on the bus, but bitch was tired!
Today was Suboxone clinic day. For those readers (lol, nobody reads this) who are not familiar with it, Suboxone is a drug used to reverse opioid/heroin addiction. So when we first got there today, we worked on some patients and talked with our preceptor and staff for a bit, then she sent us to the group meeting. There were about 9 struggling people in there and man was it fucking sad. Some of them are newly recovering, and some have been in the clinic-established program for years. They’re at all different levels in their sobriety and some said they had used as often as yesterday. I’m not well-versed on the program specifically, but I am sure some of these individuals are required to participate in this to maintain their jobs, at least that’s the vibe I got when talking to them individually. As they all told their stories of temptations of the week, it really opened my eyes to how accessible drugs are. One of the group members said she was down on some money and looking to make some extra bucks and was helping a friend bag up heroin. I never really knew how much of a problem drugs were until I got older...and I guess I still don’t know. As I sat in and heard these stories, it was hard not to get emotional. It also didn’t help that my nose was so runny that I kept sniffling, so my colleague kept asking if I was ok. Once group was done, we met with patients individually. Now, our preceptor must really trust us because she had us going in with patients ourselves without her, and I know for some, that doesn’t happen until weeks in. So that felt cool to know she can depend on us to get accurate patient histories. Speaking to these people one on one really helped me to understand they’re humans too who may have started this addiction because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I keep going on, I’m going to start to cry, but I can say I’m super proud of these folks for admitting they needed help and doing something about it. I think that’s it. Tomorrow is a work from home day (thank God because a) I still feel like a donkey ass and b) it’s supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow), so I can’t wait to sleep in...again. How lucky have I been on this rotation so far?! Toodles!
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