Hi again guys. And thanks for all your responses, it meant a great deal. It's great to hear from a lot of my old friends and nice to meet the new members. All the advice was awesome thanks again. No point asking for help and then not taking it, so here's what's happened since I posted. First thing I've made appointment with my gp. See him in the morning. Will hopefully find and refer me somewhere to get some therapy. Also I'm already on ssri meds as well as anti-psychotic meds so I'm thinking they might have to be increased or changed. Have been taking them over 20 years. Glad I had them to fall back on while in there.
I've been taking more long walks on the days when the weather has allowed. Been doing laps of the local lake at the arboretum. Lots of bird life and a few of my old kangaroo friends. Those walks have made me feel much better.
Diet wise, the wife is pumping me full of fresh vegetables each meal and I'm starting to feel better. Good healthy fresh food was actually a bit of a shock to the system at first.
Also on the weekend I took the missus into Melbourne about 3 hours away so she could catch up with some old friends. Went drinking and dancing in the city and an overnight night stay in a swanky hotel. Well swanky for us anyway. I'm not supposed to be drinking or using drugs but I just gave a clean piss test on Thursday last week, so hopefully won't be tested for a while. The one thing I really missed in there besides the wife and intelligent conversation was some herb to smoke. It wasn't too hard not to go without weed while in there. It's harder to go without while out. It's so close but I just can't touch it yet. Fuuuuuck!!!
I've also have a fun project to start. Just before I went in I won a secondhand guitar. Was in the post when I got busted. So of course I end up with other more important things on my mind and totally forgot about it. The wife remembered it and dragged it out last week. Order a shitload of parts. The pickups arrived today. The machine heads should arrive tomorrow and hopefully the rest early next week. That will be a nice guitar to find my chops on again. Will post it in the guitar tech thread. I have been noodling around on my nylon string and I'm so rusty. Feels more like I've not played in 10 years not 2 and a half.
About my stay. I was traumatised while there. No sexual assault thank fuck but I was bashed pretty bad a couple of times. I fought back each time but still come off second best. Like I said it's tough in there for someone 40+ and unfit. But I'm ok about it. I'm a big boy and I got over that quickly. That was just the first month in. I got left alone after that. The really traumatic things was what I saw. One dude got slashed. I was close enough to have some of his blood spill on my shoulder. I saw 2 stabbings and one dude got set on fire. None of the incidents were fatal. But the dude that got burned is pretty fucked up.
I have spent the last month watching tv. Catching up on stuff I was enjoying before, also I'm a new convert to Netflix and Stan. Lots of new discoveries I've binge watched like Ozark, Glow, Orange is the new black, Better Call Saul and now I'm half way through Norseman. That one is cheering me up heaps. If you are into black humour then I highly recommend.
Anyone have any Netflix or Stan recommendations they would be able share.
Anyway I have atleast got started on my recovery and will keep you all updated on my progress.
Cheers Kaos