Update: My son has been keeping in touch every other day and mentioned to me that he was having some difficulties. He had found a job and was doing great at it but many of the staff spent their breaks smoking pot. This seems to be common in construction type jobs.

He told me recently that he was having difficulty with this and was having some bad thoughts. He is not educated so cannot find work other than the trades. He does not like working with the public so fast food places are out which is too bad because they are everywhere. Also, the recovey house he is living at was not giving him what he needed. There is no support, just nine guys living in a house. He went to AA meetings every night after work with some of the guys from the house which was good, but not enough.

Anyway, he had a relapse the other day, found himself in an altercation with some guy on the street who he says tried to punch him. Next thing he is in the hospital having surgery on his hand as it was quite badly injured. He hit the guy and ended up with a huge infection as the guy bit into his hand.

Not all bad news though and I expected this to happen. It is common after a few months in recovery. Of course I didn't want it to happen but wasn't surprised. Anyway the recovery house where he was staying told me sometimes this is a good thing as it is a wake up call for many, others just fall back into their old lifestyle. My son decided to give up and come home but I told the recovery house staff to tell him for me that this was not an option. They saw him in the hospital, I wasn't able to reach him by phone so they relayed my messages.

He is now, today, moving to a more supportive recovery house as when you slip up you have to leave the recovey house you live at as they do a drug test and he failed.

Only goes to show how tough it is for addicts in this society. There are drugs everywhere and it is so sad that he was really enjoying his job, trying hard and getting praise from his boss and now this. Every mistake is a learning experience though and hopefully this will make him stronger.
My heart goes out to people with addictions as it is such a tough road. If only our kids would listen to us and not start in the first place. I'm sure if they knew how hard drugs are to beat once your addicted they wouldn't do it.
My younger two are so far (keeping my fingers crossed) learning from their big brother's mistakes.
Kate