Addiction Treatment
At the age of twenty-five, Jo Ann was a type-A graduate business school
student (Hofstra School of Business): competitive, driven and very smart.
With an exhaustive academic criteria and a budding romance with a law
student, Jo Ann was also a drug addict. She considered going into
rehabilitation at the addiction treatment, but felt that would be an
impediment. Her chemical dependency was so severe, Jo Ann’s heart pounded
abnormally and alarmingly in her bosom, for her to lose breath, black-out
and even endure temporary blindness. Jo Ann always wanted to be on top of
her game and felt that drugs would give her the buzz she needed to exceed
expectations. At the addiction treatment, her detoxification process was
extremely difficult and I thought she was going to die. When our family
physician diagnosed her symptoms were from addiction and stress, Jo Ann
reluctantly dropped her classes and considered the addiction treatment. Jo
Ann’s memoir is dramatic by her amusing refusal to lose her virginity with
her high profile law student boyfriend, Seth, before marriage. My sister’s
story is poignant, harrowing and candid as she discusses her treatment
journey at the addiction treatment.
My mother was no different from other parents in denial before Jo Ann’s
stay at the addiction treatment. Although I did well in school and
received many awards for my art, Jo Ann was always the one my mother
expected to achieve great things. There was no way for my mother to
believe that Jo Ann (Miss Perfect in Every Way) was a drug abuser that
needed to go into an addiction treatment. I attempted to convince my
sister to seek treatment at an addiction treatment, but she refused and
scoffed at me for overreacting. My mother tried to persuade herself that
Jo Ann was just going through a phase and would find a way to lick the
problem. It wasn’t until Jo Ann was admitted into the hospital for a
racing heartbeat and black-outs that my mother even mentioned the
addiction treatment. Thankfully, my mother and I were there with Jo Ann
every step of the way. She is now recovered and her health is improving
one day at a time.
It was during her stay at the addiction treatment I realized my sister
wasn’t an easy recovering drug addict, with a legitimate reason. For all
the abuse her body has taken with cocaine, alcohol, heroin, marijuana and
Methadone, Jo Ann has lived a longer than most individuals with half as
much drugs in the body. Arguably, she done more than anyone else at the
addiction treatment with her storytelling to turn lives around for the
better. Jo Ann is in the process of getting her book published where she
documents her frustrations, anger, fears and perseverance during her stay
at the addiction treatment. Jo Ann realizes the readers expect a simpering
accumulation of gratitude. Nevertheless, she conveys a searing outlook
into depression and pain, which accompany the challenge and struggle to
achieve sobriety. Yet, she never fails to provide wit, insight and love
with a courage that’s no less than radiant. Her story about her duration
in the drug abuse treatment (as well as her drug addiction in the early
years) is compelling with an account of survival and unwavering love. My
sister was always an engaging storyteller that’s not afraid to offer an
unflinching view of love, life and outstanding courage.
Jo Ann wanted to be the best at the University, but her grades weren’t as
outstanding as they were in high school. She was barely able to make the
honor roll, and for my sister that’s the same as failure (she placed a lot
of pressure on herself at the addiction treatment as well). A study
partner introduced her to the effects of prescription drugs to keep her
awake to gain more study time and feel superior. The more prescription
drugs Jo Ann consumed, the more time she had to study. She didn’t realize
she was beginning a downward spiral to the hospital and the addiction
treatment. Subsequently, Jo Ann saw an improvement in her grades and
became addicted to more than just prescription drugs. She began abusing
cocaine, heroin, marijuana, alcohol and Methadone. It wasn’t before long
that my overachiever of a sister partied her life away for four years in
college and beyond.
Jo Ann didn’t trust her doctors and refused to be labeled an expectant
“grateful drug patient” that nearly died at the hospital. She is not
afraid to offer the perspective of a patient with irreverent, eye-opening
conviction. My sister’s storytelling can sometimes be shocking, but always
honest. Amy had plenty of time at the addiction treatment to reflect on
thoughts she wants to share with the rest of the world. She had to endure
a nightmare with a life addicted to drugs, alcohol and prescription
medicine (mainly Valium). Her experience is unsettling and atypical, but
always unforgettable. We’re not talking about the type-cast drug addict at
a crack house that is often seen in movies and television. Neither are we
talking about a spoiled brat from an affluent neighborhood with rich
parents that you see many times at an addiction treatment.
Jo Ann spent her youth in a working class neighborhood in Bala Cynwyd,
Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. We had a working widowed mother that
went out of her way to see that my sister and I receive the best public
school education available in Philadelphia. Jo Ann was a talent on the
piano, a straight A student throughout her years in school, and a skillful
athlete in cross-country and track and field. Always competitive and
adventurous, Jo Ann somehow discovered drugs in her freshman year at St.
John’s University. This was seven years before she entered the addiction
treatment. The addiction treatment was a blessing for Jo Ann, but it had
to take her determination, fighting spirit and willpower for her to live a
drug-free life and continue her life as an extraordinary woman.
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