The road is long and hard for us both, my friends on here are just the best, you give me such hope, support and advice and I will always be grateful for NT.
We saw the GP Wednesday, she doesn't want to refer him to a specialist until he has finished these 2 weeks outpatient care and his 4 weeks inpatient care down South, but did tell him his gastritis and barretts is severe and it will take months for his gut to heal and he will need 6 monthly gastroscopies.

Blackwood is a new clinic, they specialise in addiction and recovery, specifically alcohol dependence and ice users who graduated from alcohol to ice. Such an insidious drug and this makes it a challenge for DB given his job as a DDO (drug detection officer) not the fact they are or have been users, but when back into mainstream work he runs the risk of being recognised when out and about. So, he is growing a beard, unshaven now for a week and looks dreadful. A small part of me hopes he doesn't keep it long term...

He says the cravings are not as bad as expected, but some days and hours are worse than others. He is learning a lot and is with a good group of participants at the moment.

Don't know who will be at the clinic down south but he is hopeful they will be a good crowd and not like a number of them discharged from the clinic up here in the city the fortnight he was in. The hospital only holds 30 and is always full. There was a group of 6 there in the 2nd week who were very immature and spoilt, sneaking out over the fence, encouraging boyfriends to break-in, friends flying drones over the rooftop and dropping drugs in... so the hospital had to go into lockdown, 24 of them just got in with it, but it meant no one could go outside and smoke. The 6 set off the fire alarms twice, as soon as the alarm went off the fire doors open and out they dashed to smoke. All 6 discharged the next morning but they were very disruptive for the remainder of the night and the other 24, many of them mature patients like DB were frazzled and suffered with anxiety and panic attacks.

Like I said, the road to recovery is long and hard, I have to attend meetings with the city clinic staff while DB is down south, a part of the program is partners have to commit to attending a minimum of 4 sessions. I'm hopeful it will give me tools to use that will benefit us both in the long run. I have to overcome my fear of being out on my own, this crippling feeling of not being able to even go for a simple walk is just stupid.