Disconnection

Our rinky-dink local cable company (which appeared to be one guy running thirty five satellite tuner boxes off of two satellites for everyone connected to watch) turned off its transmissions New Year's Eve.

We were doing okay watching Hulu and (legally, through a service) downloaded movies/programs until our broadband wireless internet provider shut us off for non-payment. So now, we're down to watching the two channels we can get through a small indoor antenna and whatever DVDs we can scrounge up. I have returned to hanging out at my parents' house all day to use their internet for job-hunting/surfing until we can get our internet paid in two weeks. Maybe then we can get a better antenna, too.

Oh, and Mr. Pill popper overdosed himself yesterday. Thankfully, it was a mild overdose, and we didn't have to seek treatment. Apparently, he had forgotten that he had taken a megadose (4-6 pills, depending on the severity of the pain) around 4 a.m. when he decided to take another megadose at 8 a.m. I was just dozing off for a morning nap when he said he didn't feel right.
"You just need some sleep," I told him, knowing he had been up all night watching America's Test Kitchen episodes with me. I had only lasted half the night, and had gotten back up to see my daughter and two of my nephews off to school.

He said that he felt like he was having trouble breathing, and that he had to work to take full breaths. "I think I overdosed myself," he said, and explained what he had done. I asked him if he wanted to go to the emergency room, and he said he didn't.He probably didn't want them to have a record of him taking too many pills, for fear that they won't give him a prescription or a shot the next time he's there.

In my time with him, I have seen him get overdosed at the emergency room three times, and I have seen him give himself too many pills twice. He was still sounding okay, and only seemed slightly groggy with a very minor drunken sound to his voice. I figured it couldn't be too bad if he was still staying conscious, and I dozed off for a while. In the meantime, he stayed awake, eating whatever chocolate/candy/easy-to-prepare food he could, in an effort to offset the concentration of tramadol in his system. By early afternoon, he said he was feeling normal again.

My mom stopped in to give us gas money so he could go to his addiction treatment meeting, but he said he had just started feeling normal again, and decided to (once again) miss it. I think he's decided he's not going at all, and will try to continue being alcohol free on his own. I have a feeling he's afraid they will try making him get off the pills and the booze, and he's not ready for that.

He took another megadose around 6 p.m., but limited himself to 4 pills this time.