Clay's Story

Clay's Story

I realized with my first post I might have dropped a bomb for some and didn't really explain. I want to share with you all Clay's addiction story so you can see where it started from.

Clay and I got married April 15th 2006. When we met 3 years prior Clay was redshirting and College of Eastern Utah. After a year of school there his coach said they didn't have room for him in their program. It crushed him and shook his confidence in his ability. He took some time off of school and basketball.

A month after we got married I got a phone call at work that he was in an accident. He was doing construction and a framed wall fell and got caught on his work belt. The weight of the wall went through his legs and shattered his foot!! It was an eye opener to him on a few things. One that God loves and watched out for him. It could have been so much worst and he does not remember turning good body so it didn't hit his head. Two that life is to short to not follow your dreams and he wanted to play basketball.

After surgery and therapy he contacted an old coach and started working out with him. This coach was also a recruiter and helped people find places to play. He saw something in Clay and knew just the place for him. So we packed up our car and drove to Port Angeles Washington!! It was beautiful there and we were so blessed (I will have to share those stories another time) Clay was excited and ready to play. The first game of his college career he went up to block a shot and slipped on his way down. He fell back on to his hands. He played the rest of the game and when we got it looked at it was broken. He decided to play the rest of the season then had surgery after the season. This was where it started!

His sophomore year his wrist had not completely healed but he was determined to keep playing so he was on a lot of Tylenol and prescription pain pills during the season. When he was not playing he didn't need to take anything. After his sophomore year his wrist was still broken. So another surgery and then we were off to Montana for another 2yrs of school and basketball.

Again his wrist was not 100% so he and his Dr came up with a pain management plan. This time when he was not playing he still had pain and now a plan to deal with it, prescription pain pills. He would get a months supply every 30 days. Things were good. Slowly over time and as more stress was added to or lives there would be some months he would run out before his next refill. It would be a long few days or week.

When we left MT he was in the beginning of his addiction. It would be 4 more years of running out, stressing about getting more, random trips to the ER to get some, always thinking about them and getting like he needed one to do anything before he finally realized this was not how he wanted to live his life.

He knew that he was not taking them for pain anymore. Even though he was under a doctor's care and had a"reason" to need them it had started to control him and his every thought and action.

I am so proud of him for making the decision he did to get the help and get clean. This is a glimpse of how his addiction started. When he was in the hospital for detox he just keep saying I am so glad it didn't get as bad as it could have and I agree I am so thankful he got the help when he did!!!

This is the shirt quick version and I am sure I will refer to things again about tubes when he was in his addiction of how things are going with his recovery.

It's all part of the journey going from 3 to 4!!