For those of you who have never experienced addiction or for those who do not have addicts in their lives I will explain what a "relapse" is. According to the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, a relapse is 1. the act or an instance of backsliding, worsening, or subsiding 2. a recurrence of symptoms of a disease after a period of improvement.

I experienced a relapse, first hand,  on Tuesday, January 24. 

Actually, I witnessed it  that morning shortly after waking up. My son just moved back home the night before as a temporary arrangement while he and his girlfriend, whom he's planning on marrying, worked out an issue or two  they were struggling with. They both thought they needed a little bit of time apart and that's why my son asked if he could stay with us for a week or two. That evening he played some video games with my younger son and then popped his head into my bedroom asking me to make an appointment with our family therapist for him and his girlfriend. They wanted to talk with the therapist, but he wanted me to find out what it would cost first. I explained that the therapist would work with him on the cost.

The next morning, on January 24, my son awoke to get ready for work. Before entering the bathroom, he cracked a humorous comment to my husband as he was leaving for work himself. The only warning I noticed that something was wrong with my son was a slight stagger as he entered the bathroom. I had seen that subtle and not so subtle stagger many times in the last four years before he had moved out of our home last Spring.  Hoping it was just a fluke, I continued with my morning routine. David seemed in good spirits despite the temporary separation from his girlfriend. My husband closed the front door and left for work. 

A few minutes passed and I noticed that David hadn't left the bathroom yet,  in spite of the fact it was time for him to leave for work. I also heard some strange loud breathing sounds, almost like snoring, coming from the direction of the bathroom. At first I assumed the snoring/gurgling sounds were coming from my youngest son who was still sleeping across from the bathroom David was occupying. My youngest tends to struggle with allergies and so the sound of loud breathing isn't unusual. After glancing in the open doorway of the bedroom, I confirmed that it wasn't my youngest son snoring. So, I knocked on the bathroom door to see if David was ok. He didn't answer and so I knocked once again and asked more loudly if everything was ok. Caught between being alarmed at his unresponsiveness, which isn't like him, and not wanting to embarrass him by catching him off guard in the bathroom, I tried eliciting an answer the third time. After no reply, I opened the unlocked door.

Lying on the floor on his back, fully clothed, was my unconscious adult son. The first thought that entered my mind was that he simply fell back asleep drained from staying up too late and from the troubles he and his girl friend were having. Immediately after that thought, the slight bluish color of his face caught my attention, but since I had never seen a bluish tint on his or anyone's face before, I didn't know what it meant and proceeded to wake him up. Even with a loud voice commanding him to awake, he didn't stir. His breathing was irregular and his eyes were half open, with no response to my cries of alarm. Not knowing what was wrong with him and yet understanding that it was serious, I called my husband and told him to come home right away. I then called a 911. The possibility that he had passed out from drinking too much crossed my mind since he has been drunk before in the past, but what threw me was the fact that his face was blue and he was not responding.....and breathing irregularly.

The instructions I got from the 911 phone call sustained my sensibility and kept me busy as I waited for the emergency help. The gentleman on the phone never left me "alone" as I followed his clear and concise directions making sure his head was tilted back and that there was nothing in his mouth. As I continued to hold my son's head back until the paramedics arrived, the 911 gentleman talked to me assuring me that help was on its way and directing me what to do next.

Thankfully, just minutes later, paramedics and then the fire fighters arrived relieving me of the care of my son. Not knowing for sure what was wrong with David or what was taking place in that crowded bathroom, all I could do was pray asking for God's help. Once they revived him and I heard my son's voice, I immediately felt better still not knowing what had caused David's collapse.

Shortly after they carried him outside on a stretcher I was told that it was a good thing I was home and had called for help. My son was basically suffocating and was only about four minutes from death.

To be continued....