The end of an era

ok, so its not so much the end of an era, but it sure feels like it. for the past 5 weeks, i have been alcohol free. no drinking... no drunken nights... no drunken phone calls... no drunken text messages...

its not like i have to drink, i had no problem for the most part kicking alcohol to the curb for 5 weeks. the part that made it hard, was i still went out. i went out and partied with all of my friends, and thats where it was hard. you know how many funny looks you get from bartenders when you order water? they really want you to get drunk! with the bartenders i knew, it was no problem, they understood, and gave me bottled water for free :)

but it was also all my friends, and other random people i know. everyone would always say, just have one... you want a shot??? one drink wont hurt you... why arent you drinking?

and not only that, but being completely sober while everyone around you is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from sober is not as fun as it sounds. things that you say or do while under the influence of alcohol, isnt funny at all when you are sober.

now dont get me wrong, i still had fun being sober, and i came in handy, because i was a consistent DD for the last 5 weeks. but ill tell you, you sure feel left out when all your friends are doing shots, and you are sitting there with your thumb up your...

tonight, will be my first drink in 5 weeks, FIVE WHOLE WEEKS!!! im sure i will probably be wasted after 2 drinks, but i dont care, it will be awesome!

i guess you are probably wondering why i havent had any alcohol in the last 5 weeks. well, as much as i joked about it in the past few weeks, it wasnt because of AA or anything. like i said, i had no problem not drinking, you gotta rest up the liver every now and then, right?

i hurt my shoulder playing basketball (or thats probably what finally caused it) in early august. actually, you know how you might be playing a sport or something, and you tweak something, and you think to yourself, well thats going to hurt in the morning.? well... that didnt happen, i have no idea what i did to my shoulder.

all i know, is i woke up in the morning, and my shoulder was killing me, i couldnt move my arm without my shoulder hurting. for the first few days, i thought that it might just go away, so i didnt go see the doctor or anything. well then, a week after it happened, i went to budapest for 10 days. so i didnt see a doctor there (technically, anyway), and then when i came back, and finally got an appointment scheduled, it was the first week of september.

this is the part that impressed me, i go see an orthapedic surgeon so he can tell me wtf is wrong with my shoulder. it had been hurting for 3 weeks now. i dont think ive ever had anything hurt for this long before. well the doctor lifted my arm and moved it around for literally 5 seconds and told me i had an inflamed tendon. i think we spent more time talking about my family, and how they were doing. duh, i went and saw an indian doctor... and of course, all indians in this town know each other... lol...

so he prescribed these anti-inflammatory pills, and also had me do physical therapy for the past 5 weeks. he said if it still hurt after all of that, they would take an mri. does that seem weird to any of you? that if my shoulder WAS hurt more seriously than he thought, he would wait for a month and a half before looking into it... ah, what do i know, im no doctor.

so back to the reason i didnt drink. the information for the anti inflammatory that i took (from the internet, the paper that came with them, and from my pharmacist friend) said that it is not suggested to drink more than 3 drinks a day because these meds can tear up your stomach, and then together with alcohol can cause ulcers. i mean, i wasnt even supposed to lay down within 10-15 minutes of taking the medicine because it could tear up your esophagus. so i guess this was some pretty strong shtuff...

well, im sure some of you are thinking, well, it said not to consume more than 3 drinks a day. what you dont know, is when we go to bars where we know the bartenders, one mixed drink, IS like 3 drinks. so essentially i would drink one drink, and not drink for the rest of the night. pretty pointless, right? yea, i thought so myself.

so i told myself that i would just not drink for the entire time that i took the meds. plus, im sure my liver could use the break as well.

so thats it, physical therapy ended yesterday, my pills ran out, and my shoulder is probably at about 85% - 90%. the rest of the recovery can be done by continuing the exercises that i was doing at physical therapy, at home.

the end of an era...