Category Archives: Uncategorized

Before you Bum a Smoke…

Posted on by
Reply

Come all ye people who bum cigarettes, a warning take from Lee:

My friends Lee and Vicki went to a music show in Roanoke. Lee is six years sober from heroin use. Since cigarettes are considered something of a trigger for the old life, he’s not supposed to have them, but Lee took advantage of Vicki nipping off to the toilet. He requested a cigarette from a smoker outside. When Vicki returned and caught him, he didn’t finish.

This may have saved his life.

As she harangued him (all of us who have loved someone with SUD know this is a loving act) Lee said suddenly, “I have to go to the restroom.” A moment later, Vicki heard a ruckus and followed to find Lee unconscious on the ground, surrounded by a bunch of strangers. Four of them had Narcan out, the rest were calling 911 on their cell phones. 

One of the kind strangers administered the anti-overdose drug Narcan as Vicki took Lee’s face in her hands and cajoled, slapped, and screamed him into waking up. He went in and out three times, and registered an incredibly weak pulse when the paramedics arrived. But with the Narcan, he was holding onto consciousness, drenched in sweat, and slowly realizing what had happened.

When the paramedics found that Lee had asked for a cigarette, they exchanged knowing glances, did a couple of checks, and confirmed: the cancer stick had been laced with fentanyl.

“Never, never, take anything from someone you don’t know these days,” the paramedics said, without judgment. “This happens a lot. And we do mean a lot.”

Vicki didn’t really register their warning in the moment. As she says, “I felt so bad for Lee, because being an ex drug addict, his fear and combativeness towards medical responders was triggered and he was panicking. His mind immediately went to law enforcement and I was constantly having to reassure him that this was not that life anymore and he had done nothing wrong.” 

The paramedics were sympathetic to Lee’s PTSD and helped Vicki bundle him into their car to head back to the hotel once they were sure he was going to be okay.

I asked Vicki if she thought the guy who gifted the cigarette had known the fentanyl was in there. It can’t be proven, as he disappeared when the trouble began, but Vicki thought he had looked high, when Lee described which smoker gave him the ill-fated gift. The paramedics were also of the opinion that people tend to sneak their drugs into concerts via cigarettes. One more reason not to ask for one, ever.

“I’m just in shock,” Vicki concludes. “You hear the stories about how easy it is but never picture yourself in a situation where that could happen. It’s unreal. But the availability of Narcan and people who knew how to use it was very very inspiring. And I’m pretty sure it saved Lee’s life.”

Feel free to share this story, and please, please do two things: carry Narcan, and don’t ask strangers for cigarettes, no matter how badly you want one.

The Monday Book – Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke

Posted on by
Reply

Guest review by Janelle Bailey, retired Literature teacher.

This is truly a gorgeous graphic construction of an extremely thoughtful and thought-provoking non-fiction work of literature. And the fact that it is all, coincidentally, built and written by a Bay Port High School grad/once a local, to boot, is awfully cool! Way to go, Kristen!

A lot about this book reminded me of Mira Jacob’s Good Talk, so I was only pleasantly surprised to see her acknowledged at the end of this book.

I reflected on so much while reading this, prompted by very intellectual assertions by its author, as she investigated concepts as diverse and wide-ranging as American “cowboys,” the current declining enrollment in civic organizations, railroad building and travel, and more, while also pondering her own family members, her own personal history, and the lives of these individuals matching or not those around them.

The entire book is just plain smart and thoughtful, and I may just read it again to make sure I didn’t miss anything the first time, for how densely loaded it is with good stuff. It truly sparked my interest in and thoughts about the included diverse topics. And that made me realize how much work Radtke must have done not only researching her ideas but then also determining which to include and how little or much of each, for this could have been a far longer work, given all she mentions and touches on. She does a fine job of whetting the reader’s appetite and interest for these ideas, addressing them a bit, but not dwelling or overdoing any, only initiating the thoughts and ideas at times.

This book also addresses a long-held idea I have processed myself that true loneliness is much less about being physically “alone” than it often is about “feeling” alone, even at times in an actual crowd or physically surrounded by others. It made me think about an essay I used to teach in my classroom about the value and lost art of solitude. Personally, I still feel like being in my own house all alone and able to breathe deeply and differently is a relished and rare treat, something to treasure, and not at all lonely…for me. And yet I have been in numerous situations when I have been literally surrounded by plenty of people but feel completely alone…in my thinking, my values, my understanding of things, my great wishes to be, then, anywhere else…or even alone instead. Loneliness is a mindset, I think, and has very little to do with a magic number of people in a particular place at a particular time.

I think that in this current world, isolation is of greater concern than loneliness, and hopefully others also see…and seek…the value of virtual connection and togetherness such that they do not have to feel any more alone than they wish to.

Kudos to Radtke for creating this beautiful, thoughtful book!