Drug Free At Last!!!

As usual the last month has had its ups and downs. I hit my all time low in weight (144). I expected withdrawal symptoms when I finally cut my pain patches from one to zero since I had them when I went from two to one, but it was worse than I expected. This time I had severe insomnia and the insects under the skin for 6 nights; severe being defined as not being able to get to sleep before 4am (most nights it was 5 or 6am). Then I had milder insomnia for another 6 nights which was not getting to sleep before 2am and waking during the night for 1-2 hours. I was feeling like a zombie and consistent with the past I lost weight; setting a new low. Finally after almost two weeks I was able to sleep through the night (except of course for the bio breaks that most guys my age are familiar with).
But after all that I am feeling GREAT because I am now DRUG FREE!!!!
If you haven't been on 9-10 drugs for almost 6 months you just can't understand how great it feels to be clean once again. All my previous depression has been washed away. I still look anorexic but I feel sooo much better.
I reffed a couple matches over the weekend. Granted they were just U9 ARs but it was fantastic being out there again after thinking at times that I'd never ref again. I admit I was a bit ambitious when I took 4 games this weekend but they are lower level games and it's time to test myself a bit. I've been feeling pretty fragile the last months both physically and mentally but hopefully that's over now. I still have to be careful to not get sick, but I want to act as normal as possible now.
Next week I have meetings in the office for 4 days straight. Then the following week Bonnie and I will take Lauren up to Oregon to start college and the week after that I have meetings in San Ramon for 3 days. If I can keep my weight up after being away from the kitchen for all of that time then once I build up a bit more of a weight cushion I think I'll be ready to go back to my normal work schedule.
After all I've been through this year you probably would think I'm crazy to volunteer for another clinical study. Well maybe I am, but there is this promising treatment for improving saliva function in patients who have been irradiated like me. My impaired saliva function is one of the biggest quality of life negatives for me now so I'm motivated to improve it. Incredibly the only thing that has any promise of permanent improvement is accupuncture. The research on this is fascinating. Since there are not enough proficient practitioners, if this approach indeed works, they have merged ancient accupuncture with modern science and produced electro-accupuncture! They have found that they can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system with a mild electrical current and get the same results as accupuncture with the needles. So I'll be treated twice a week for 12 weeks and hopefully I'll see significant improvement in the amount of spit I make. And as an added bonus there are NO drugs involved and NO side effects!! Sweet!
On another positive note, the great guy who has coached and supported me through all my trials had his 1 year from end of treatment scan and he is clean as a whistle. For us the first year is the most dangerous for recurrance so this is just fantastic news. WAY TO GO GLEN!!!!!