Krispy Joe
March 14th, 2007, 11:24 PM
Hey, this is going to be a serious thread about feelings and stuff:
A few months ago my best friend's twin brother dropped out of the highschool that me and the friend went to and now goes to a school across town and no longer lives with my friend's family. Naturally, I was like "???" so I decided to ask my friend what was going on, because having someones brother just leave school in the middle of senior year and also stop living with the rest of the family put up some red flags. Whenever I asked him what happened, he always shrugged it off and dismissed it. My friend is very closed with his feelings, but I began to become more and more frustrated when he would not tell me why his twin brother no longer lives with him.
I kinda stopped caring until a few days ago when I was talking with one of my other friends and he mentioned in passing that he knew the reason that the friend I'm talking about's brother dropped out from school. He promised that he would tell me as long as I told no one else why. Since I know none of you here in person, I'll use the confidentiality of the Internets and say what's going on:
My friend's mom was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, and had to undergo several treatments. These treatments left her physically spent and in an extreme amount of pain. She was prescribed painkillers to deal with the symptoms, and from what I gather, became dependent on them. Anyway, her addiction and supposed denial thereof lead to a diminishing ability as a parent (She has two boys and a girl all my age and no husband, but they do have a woman who has come by every so often and help with chores, a kinda nanny/maid I guess) and a whole lot of drama. Now my friend and his sister have a ten foot thick shield against drama and emoness, but the brother who left is somewhat of an emokid, and very susceptible to all the drama. Apparently this situation reached a tipping point last December and he left school and home. I've talked to him on Facebook a little, so I know he's not dead, but I still found it hurtful that my best friend did not want to share at least a little of what was going on at home.
Of course, normally I do not butt into extremely personal matters such as this, but I have first-hand experience in dealing with a parent with an opiate addiction. My mom was prescribed Vicodin for chronic pain in her knee and fibromyalga. She eventually became dependent on them, and turned into a mess. The thing is, my mom didn't deny she had a problem like my friend's mom is doing, went to Narcotics Anonymous meetings for a while, and is now almost clean. She has even actively involved me in her recovery. She was prescribed 180 Vicodin tablets for 30 days, and asked me to hold on to the bottle so she wouldn't be tempted to take more than six a day. I declined, telling her that she needs to prove to herself that she has the willpower to overcome her addictions, but in reality, I knew that I would be too tempted to take a few vicodin from the bottle every now and again, as I find an occasional dose of hydrocodone to be awesome (Don't worry I'm not addicted, I know where all 100-some pills are right now, but I'm choosing not to take them, even though I'm tempted as my knee is killing me from running today). With all my experience, I feel that I could relate to my friend and help him through of what I know to be an extremely difficult time.
So what should I do? Should I take my friend aside and have a little talk about the situation, or just do nothing and let the problem sort itself out? He's a pretty tough kid and probably won't become suicidal because of this drama, but I think I should at least make sure the situation doesn't deteriorate into this.
Summary: Best friend's mom's an opiate addict, I've got experience with this situation, don't know if I should talk with him about it.
Whew.
A few months ago my best friend's twin brother dropped out of the highschool that me and the friend went to and now goes to a school across town and no longer lives with my friend's family. Naturally, I was like "???" so I decided to ask my friend what was going on, because having someones brother just leave school in the middle of senior year and also stop living with the rest of the family put up some red flags. Whenever I asked him what happened, he always shrugged it off and dismissed it. My friend is very closed with his feelings, but I began to become more and more frustrated when he would not tell me why his twin brother no longer lives with him.
I kinda stopped caring until a few days ago when I was talking with one of my other friends and he mentioned in passing that he knew the reason that the friend I'm talking about's brother dropped out from school. He promised that he would tell me as long as I told no one else why. Since I know none of you here in person, I'll use the confidentiality of the Internets and say what's going on:
My friend's mom was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, and had to undergo several treatments. These treatments left her physically spent and in an extreme amount of pain. She was prescribed painkillers to deal with the symptoms, and from what I gather, became dependent on them. Anyway, her addiction and supposed denial thereof lead to a diminishing ability as a parent (She has two boys and a girl all my age and no husband, but they do have a woman who has come by every so often and help with chores, a kinda nanny/maid I guess) and a whole lot of drama. Now my friend and his sister have a ten foot thick shield against drama and emoness, but the brother who left is somewhat of an emokid, and very susceptible to all the drama. Apparently this situation reached a tipping point last December and he left school and home. I've talked to him on Facebook a little, so I know he's not dead, but I still found it hurtful that my best friend did not want to share at least a little of what was going on at home.
Of course, normally I do not butt into extremely personal matters such as this, but I have first-hand experience in dealing with a parent with an opiate addiction. My mom was prescribed Vicodin for chronic pain in her knee and fibromyalga. She eventually became dependent on them, and turned into a mess. The thing is, my mom didn't deny she had a problem like my friend's mom is doing, went to Narcotics Anonymous meetings for a while, and is now almost clean. She has even actively involved me in her recovery. She was prescribed 180 Vicodin tablets for 30 days, and asked me to hold on to the bottle so she wouldn't be tempted to take more than six a day. I declined, telling her that she needs to prove to herself that she has the willpower to overcome her addictions, but in reality, I knew that I would be too tempted to take a few vicodin from the bottle every now and again, as I find an occasional dose of hydrocodone to be awesome (Don't worry I'm not addicted, I know where all 100-some pills are right now, but I'm choosing not to take them, even though I'm tempted as my knee is killing me from running today). With all my experience, I feel that I could relate to my friend and help him through of what I know to be an extremely difficult time.
So what should I do? Should I take my friend aside and have a little talk about the situation, or just do nothing and let the problem sort itself out? He's a pretty tough kid and probably won't become suicidal because of this drama, but I think I should at least make sure the situation doesn't deteriorate into this.
Summary: Best friend's mom's an opiate addict, I've got experience with this situation, don't know if I should talk with him about it.
Whew.