I have returned from two more-or-less all-expenses-paid weeks in
My meltdown happened on Friday the 13th. I've been having a really bad time trying to keep up with bills for quite some time. I've been seeing a therapist about it and we keep coming to dead ends. On Friday the 13th I received a note from PPL saying they were going to cut off the power unless I paid them what might as well have been $1,000,000. Jack is unofficially disabled, but the doctor contacted PPL and told them he would be adversely effected by losing electric. A month's reprieve but still not a real solution. Jack finally applied for public assistance and medical assistance and was rejected. (I learned in the hospital that 1st time rejection is now commonplace. I wish we'd been told before we started counting on it. He was refused because he didn't fill out a couple of forms...which they didn't send. But, of course, that's not their fault.) All the other bills were as overdue as they have been forever. Nasty-grams are kind of expected.
My therapist and I talked about maybe borrowing from the life insurance my mother set up long ago. I called the life insurance company to see if it were possible to borrow against a policy. I was told it was not.
And that was it. I saw that as my final possibility and it was shot down. I went into some kind of state I'd never been in before. I felt totally useless, hopeless, helpless, enraged at myself. Jack walked in and managed to talk me down and finally got me to lie down. He called our doctor who called the pharmacy with a prescription for Xanax. Because we've been going to the pharmacy forever, they gave Jack the Xanax (I frequently pick up his prescriptions and we're never given a hard time) and I was good for the night.
My head seemed clearer, I was less panicked, but I still had no idea what to do. One night as I was about to take a Xanax, I poured the contents into the palm of my hand it finally dawned on me: I may not be able to take care of the bills, but I could certainly take care of the idiot who was responsible for it all. I looked at the pills and I can't explain the sense of power and relief I felt. Then I thought of Jack and realized I couldn't lay that on him and, except for one, I put the pills back in the bottle.
I talked to my therapist and we agreed it was time to go into the hospital. I'd been having suicide fantasies for quite a long time, but they never had that ring of truth to them. This did.
I went in on the 18th and emerged from the cocoon this past Wednesday. I felt so much better in there. It's not that the rest of the world stopped, but there was nothing I could do about it and I could just concentrate on being me. I've discovered that's someone I haven't known for a long time. I still feel kind of fragile, but it's all right. I'm supposed to start asking banks for a consolidation loan or a credit card. So far it's encouraging. The odd thing is that I haven't come back to my music. The last time I touched it was the night before the breakdown. All in good time, I suppose, and I've been writing words a lot. It's just that the music hasn't come back.
I'm OK for the most part. It's just that I thought I should tell you.
Trust you're doing well and getting the skis polished up for the winter. I miss you. Take good care.
d
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