-My name's Jerry.
I was a veteran from the U.S. Air Force.
I served in 1960 through 1964.
I was honorably discharged at that time.
Towards the end of 2011, I was at my doctor's appointment
and he says, "I'd like for you to see a cardiologist soon."
I went in the 1st of December and they did my heart surgery
and then everything started going crazy.
January, I developed a full onset of shingles,
which was probably the worst pain I've ever had.
It was supposed to last for a couple weeks.
It lasted well over a month,
and like I say, the pain was excruciating.
It was just --
All I could do was sit in a chair, watch TV, and cry.
They changed my meds at that time from Valium to oxycodone.
And that was lights out for me.
I'd wake up in the morning, take my Oxycodone,
and wash it down with vodka.
And from then on, it's sort of fuzzy.
I got addicted to the oxycodone
and started standing up and falling over.
At that point, my significant other and my two sons said,
"You need help, Dad."
So, they got me a private facility.
When I got out, I relapsed almost immediately.
I didn't have the oxycodone,
but I was going back to the vodka and so forth.
A neighbor suggested I go to a facility in Mesa.
After 90 days there, the first day, I relapsed again.
I had to stay away five days
before I came back for another 90 days.
Same story, different day.
The day I got out there, I relapsed again,
ended up in the hospital.
Called my significant other, my life partner --
actually, we've been together for 30 years.
Called her, and she says, "Don't come back till you're well."
So, I didn't sleep.
I just had thoughts of suicide.
I was on the bus riding from North Phoenix down 7th Street.
The bus stopped at a bus stop right outside the V.A.
and I looked over and I said, "I gotta be in there."
So I got off the bus,
went into emergency, talked to a counselor.
And about an hour later, I was up on D5,
which was the psych ward.
And I spent 21 days up there.
After that, the program went to 90 days outpatient treatment,
which was with groups down at the V.A.,
different groups on different focuses
of addiction and alcoholism.
And realized that it's a disease and it's treatable,
and treat sympt-- you know, treat the disease,
learn the coping skills,
know when they're gonna happen and what triggers you,
and adjust your behavior accordingly.
And that was a tremendous help for me.
My partner says --
She called me, and she says, "I think you're ready."
So I went back to her place,
and we've been together since then,
for the last probably two years.
And we've been getting counseling together.
The counseling progressed to a point
of where she didn't really feel --
and this is a V.A. counselor.
She felt that we'd progressed to the point
and most of our issues were dependent
upon working on communication between the two of us.
And that was sorely needed.
And we adopted some techniques and things
to help be kindler, gentler people when we interacted,
if you know what I mean.
To be where I am today,
as far as my attitude towards alcohol --
it's not even in my mind, you know, whereas before,
every day I couldn't wait till 5:00 or 6:00
to start to either have a drink of Scotch
or a drink of wine or something like that.
There is help out there, and you can get by it.