Deb is very patient with me and explains everything very carefully. She reassures me that everything will be alright. She gives prayers for me and my family. God bless her and her good and excellent work.
***
I could write many pages on the wonderful, baffling changes that have taken place in my life this past year. I owe this to Deb and a big wonderful hug and a thank you for saving my life. I don't know if she even remembers me but I know what a person can do to inspire another in a positive way because of her.
One year ago, a nurse asked me how I'd been since my last checkup and for some reason, I really poured out some personal stuff that I would have normally kept to myself. I told Deb that I had retired two years ago and my life seemed to be spiraling out of control because of my drinking and that I couldn't stop. I came in to check on my heart and was telling this stranger about the wreckage of my life. But it was her response that gave me a moment of clarity. I did not know at the time but my life was about to change. I really can't remember the story that she told me and you sure think that I would, but it was about her father or brother or someone she cared about deeply and it was her emotional feeling I felt when she spoke. I think this was the longest doctor's appointment I had ever had. She planted a seed in my head that just grew a little bit every day. I would think often of her words and the change I could have and about going to AA. Finally, I got tired of being sick and tired and walked into an alcoholic anonymous meeting. I am going to visit her at the hospital in three weeks to show her my one-year sobriety birthday chip and thank her for changing my life. I not only found a wonderful life in sobriety, I found God.