Day 4

Today started once again at 5:30 am with the morning vitals and meds.  I was slated for a Duffy today at 10:15 am, so I knew I couldn't eat, but I could have some coffee.    So, after waking up for 30 minutes or so, I stole down to the beverage area to grab a cup of coffee and visit with a few others milling around.

For the most part, none of us get to have breakfast because we are all either having a Duffy or a Sleepy, both of which have to be done on an empty stomach.  Those who have the Duffys get to at least drink fluids, whereas those getting a Sleepy have to do a 100% fast.

By 6:15am, the morning announcement is made for the first class of the day, so I head back to my room to grab my binder and get ready to head down to the morning class.  On my way back to my room, I grab an extra pitcher of water that I'll use later to hydrate for my Duffy.

The morning classes are always a little difficult for me to really get into because of the time of day they are given.  I'm just not used to getting very cerebral at 6:30 in the morning.  I don't know that I retain a great deal of this first class, so I generally take some notes in the handouts they give.   I really think people would get a lot more out of these classes if they'd push them back by an hour, but their must be a reason they start so early around here.

At the end of the first class, I head back to my room to find that I've been left a present by the nurses for my Duffy.  On my bed is the pink plastic puke pan and a couple towels.  It's funny walking down the hall and looking into the rooms and seeing the puke pans in the various rooms.

I started hydrating a little too early for my last Duffy and ended up having to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes, so decided to wait until 8:30am to start downing the water.   I'm going to slowly drink the first pitcher of water, making it last until 9:30am or so, then drink the remaining pitcher in the last 30-45min before my Duffy.

As the time for my Duffy nears, I'm getting anxious and my stomach starts to feel crampy -- it remembers the punishment the last Duffy gave it just 2 days ago.   10:15am, my pager still hasn't gone off, so I head down to the nurses station to find Joe and Tom (two guys I've buddied up with here at SSH) hanging out in front of the Duffy rooms with their pitchers of water (they have Duffys later in the day).  Right as I get down there, one of the nurses says to me "You are just who I'm looking for."   Great....

I follow her into the cramped Duffy room and take my seat in front of the stainless steel basin.  In front of me is a bottle of vodka, a bottle of white wine, and a REALLY big glass of ipecac.  This glass of ipecac is A LOT bigger than the one I had in my first Duffy.  Turiea, my bartender of choice, is off today so I have a new treatment nurse.   She makes a bit of small talk then gives me the shot of vasodilator, then tells me to drink the ipecac.  I swig down the entire glass and nearly gag -- the stuff tastes horrible.  By the time I've drank the ipecac, the vasodilator kicks in and I'm flushed red, my eyes are bloodshot, and I start to sweat.

My treatment nurse tells me to talk a walk for 5 minutes to let the ipecac stir up a bit in my stomach so that it will work better.  So, I head out of the Duffy room and Joe and Tom give me a funny look.  I tell them "She told me to walk around and let the ipecac brew for a bit." They both laugh.

After 5 minutes or so, I head back to the Duffy room and, at this point, I'm starting to feel queasy.  I take a seat and my treatment nurse hands me a glass of vodka mixed with warm water and tells me to smell then drink it quickly.  I smell the glass and the nausea escalates.  I drink the glass quickly, then the flood gates open and I dump what seems like an entire pitcher of water into the stainless steel bowl.  The nurse says 7 more to go.  From this point out it's a pattern of: Drink -> Puke, Drink -> Puke, for the next 5 glasses.   The final two glasses, I can only drink 1/2 the glass before puking.   The nurse says "This is good, this is what it's supposed to do."  I'm guessing she meant that as a complement, but I'm about as sick feeling as I've ever felt in my life at this point.  My stomach is starting to ache from all of the puking -- at least 10 times in the Duffy room.

After the last glass, the nurse hands me a straight shot of vodka and tells me to swish it in my mouth then spit so I'll have the taste is my mouth when I head back to my room.  I'm barely able to swish it without puking again.  The nurse then drenches a towel with vodka and we had back to my room.  As I leave the Duffy room, Joe and Tom are still waiting outside and they can tell I've been worked over pretty good -- they cheer out "Alright Greg, you go after it man!"   It feels good to have these guys, who are in this with me, standing behind me like that. I'm starting to build some bonds here with the people I'm going through this treatment with.

Back at my room, the nurse has me get into bed, then she places the alcohol drenched towel next to my face on a plastic plate and puts the puke pan on my bed.  As she walks out, she tells me to think about alcohol drinking until 1:40pm.

After she walks out of the room, I catch a really good wiff of the alcohol drenched towel and puke 3 more times into the puke pan.   I am so much more nauseated this time around than I was during the first Duffy.  I am on the verge of throwing up for the next hour.

After 30 minutes, the nurse brings in the "Booster."  This is a glass of warm beer and ipecac.  After drinking it, I quickly throw it back up into the pan.

After this, I lay in bed sweating and nauseous, thinking about all of the time I've wasted in my life being drunk and/or hung-over.  It truly was a waste.  As I lay there, I pray to God that he will use this Duffy to further extinguish my craving for alcohol.

The 3 hours just crawl by as I lay there in bed nauseous.   At about the 2 1/2 hour mark, my nausea starts to subside and by 3 hours I'm about 75% back to normal.  I figure I just need to get some food in my belly to settle things back down, so I'm anxious for the nurse to release me.

After being released, I make a bee-line for the cafeteria because I know they close down  lunch at 2pm.   I order a burger and take it up the lounge to relax and slowly eat.   I do not want to go back to my room until house keeping changes my bed and cleans up.  The smell of the alcohol in the rooms is just nauseating after a Duffy.

All for today.