Marge went home yesterday. She wasn't invested at all in her rehab and as soon as she realized what and where she had put herself she immediately wanted out and back to LA to see her BF-the guy she does drugs with. Marge paid little attention to me or anything here other than her cell phone, paid little attention when we were discussing PREHAB, and basically showed me that she isn't prepared to do the difficult work that is a solid rehabilitation. She could not identify a viable dream of hers. She admitted that the "program" she is in (working toward a certificate as a medical assistant) is what others want for her and is not what she necessarily wants. We discussed her lack of investment (emotionally) in such a program, but I'm afraid my suggestions to her went in one ear and out the other. Since she indicated that she wasn't happy here (and she had no money), I put her on a bus for home yesterday. Her 5 day stay here did provide her a safe semi-detox, but this 32 yr old woman is a long way from hurting herself and those around her. I was pretty hard on her on the way to the bus station, explaining that few addicts realize the pain they put others around them through and how selfish addiction was, but again, I doubt that she was listening to anything other than her phone. In the 5 days she was here she never smiled, not once, and never partook of her beautiful surroundings. She is stuck firmly within herself. I wished her the best of luck, told her she was always welcomed back, and gave her a few bucks to spend along with her ticket. I hope Marge can ride out her vices until she can figure out what will make her happy in this world besides a quick fix. As soon as she figures out her dream, she'll be able to conquer her addictions.

"Joe" returned to England and has convinced a very well known British BadBoy rocker to come to me for rehab. Unfortunately, my upcoming surgery will prevent me from seeing/working with anyone at my home from this point forth through, at least, August. I was an "A" level tennis player and want my shoulder repaired correctly as I plan to win the USTA 80's someday. Also, since I received only one response to my question as to rather anyone is actually reading this blog, I will be closing this down for the duration of my surgery and recovery. It is possible that I will take on clients again in the fall, but right now I intend to spend next year rehabbing my body and trying to sell some of my existing works. I will also try to find a new publisher for PREHAB as I am now absolutely convinced of it's ability to help save lives. I want to thank those of you who may be attentive readers to this blog and assure you that my adventures are hardly over, just on hiatus.

See you all in the Fall.

Things here proceed along as expected. "Marge", as I'll refer to her in these blogs, is getting the rest she so desperately needed before she arrived here. She sleeps, eats, showers, smokes a cig or two, and has repeated this process since her arrival two days ago. When she's awake, much of her time is spent arguing with her parents or trying to justify her absence from her nursing assistants program. She is nearly hysterical whenever she approaches any difficulty at all and her way of expressing her frustration is to cry and/or yell at her parents. She constantly gets down on herself. She exhibits little ability to focus. I explained to her that she still has toxins in her bloodstream and body tissues that need leaching out, but the addict in her wants her to return to LA. She is trying to justify that return by saying that her schooling has to be this or that, but she is unwilling to tell her school the real story. Plainly, she is just not ready to return to the civilized world. It should be interesting to see exactly what she decides. Right now, it is hard to get much in to her. She is courteous, but resistive to any suggestions. Very negative in her world view, and it's a negativity that's based on fear. Her lack of esteem makes her a real challenge, especially because she doesn't not want to be here and is somewhere else in her mind.

As to my shoulder injury, here is the full impression by the radiologist below.

1. full-thickness tear of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus
tendon with 5 cm of retraction and mild to moderate atrophy.
2. partial tear of the subscapularis tendon with displacement of
the biceps tendon from the bicipital groove
3. mild to moderate degenerative osteoarthrosis of the
acromioclavicular joint
4. mild degenerative osteoarthrosis of the glenohumeral joint

Obviously this stuff can't be good and i am scheduled to see an orthopedic surgeon next Tuesday. Well, I was looking for a rest, now it seems as if I've been forced into one.

If anyone actually reads this, please log onto my website: www.prehab2rehab.com and give a a shoutout under "comments". It's lonely in here and I'd love to know if someone is reading.

My mother seems to be well. She is now a week back from Cleveland where her boyfriend of the past 6 years was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. That's incurable and a fairly quick and painful way to go I understand. This man was a Godsend to my mom after my dad had died in 2002. Mom and Lee (not his actual name) hooked up in 2004. His wife has died 5 years previously in a terrible bicycle/car accident. Lee and mom healed one another over time and Lee was there for her when my brother was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer in 2005. However, having suffered through my father's death and then through my brother's death took quite a toll on mom and Lee recognized this. He implored mom to return to Sacramento so she would not have to watch another important man to her disintegrate before her eyes. She came home a week ago. I had recalled my sister from China in anticipation of mom's early return and I had one of my former wives move in to assist mom with her daily activities. Mom is settling into her new role as "queen" where we do for her instead of her always doing for us.

Well, Joe has been in Sacramento with his new love for the past 5 days, but is scheduled to leave to London this afternoon. By the time most of you read this blog he'll be back in Jolly 'Ol facing the music that he must. His stay in Sacramento was bumpy, as I predicted, but very few people that come to visit me here actually listen to what I tell them and then act upon that information. I find myself saying "why don't they just do as I outline?" but invariably people who do not take their rehab 100% seriously tend to fall off their workout schedules, become lazy in their application of the 4 P's, and soon end up on the wrong end of a bottle or needle or both. For Joe I noticed a sharp decline in his interest in rehab as soon as he met this particular woman (I warned both Joe and this woman repeatedly against one another), and his focus became opaque and distorted. This particular woman thinks of herself as a "healer" because she has a massage certificate and teaches yoga. One must watch out for charlatans in this life. For instance, this woman knew I had a bad shoulder (I fell hard on it this past January). Although I was reluctant, I allowed her to "massage" my shoulder. It was painful, but I endured it. After a few minutes she proclaimed that she could cure me through her healing touch and that I didn't need to see a physician. Well, the pain continued and so I kept my doctor's appointment and xrays showed that I had, apparently, broken my shoulder cap way back in January. A large spur had developed along the capped ridge and all sorts of stuff is going on in and around the joint. The jagged spur is cutting into my ligaments, tendons and muscles. There was no way in heaven her "healing hands" were going to fix this. An MRI was ordered and subsequently I have just learned that I have a severed tendon and tangling muscles and a torn rotator cuff. I will be seeing an orthopedic surgeon within the next few days and must look forward, I'm afraid to surgery soon.

So, here is this woman swooning all over Joe, telling him gawd-knows-what and "healing" him. Well, that all backfired. They argued. I believe he drank, but I am unable to confirm this. Now there are hard feelings and Joe has slipped way off his rehab schedule as it was with me. The upshot of this is that it will make his return to England much more hazardous and his trials there more difficult to handle. I pray he has the fortitude to withstand the onslaught of negative influences which will descend upon him like a plague. Also, I have no idea what these two concocted about his return to America, but any thought of his return to Sacramento must come without my investment. Since Joe did not participate as I wished him to in his developing alternate vocational directions for himself, I can only conclude that he intends to, somehow, resume his song writing career. Fortunately that should keep him in Europe until he can receive his next royalty check. Then his plans were to move to NYC. Hopefully he'll not resort to his old ways of dealing with his life while in London awaiting criminal proceedings and instead will withstand the trials he must endure and move forward from there with a plan for himself.

I know I said Joe would be that last case I take on for awhile, but I have received word of a rather desperate situation that I cannot ignore or turn away. A mid twenty something young lady who has been rehabbed at least a half dozen times, was doing fairly well I understand (she's an opiate addict and a methhead)-she was attending school toward a nursing certificate-when she went to visit an old boyfriend and began shooting speedballs! How one jumps from nursing school to speedballs so rapidly over a boy I will never understand. I do know she has not read my book so perhaps I can get her healthy, detoxed, and implant some important ideas in her head before getting her back to school. I expect to hear from this young lady's mother sometime today or tomorrow and will make arrangements for her stay here.

So, I have an old friend coming for a visit this weekend. My middle daughter graduated university this past weekend. My youngest daughter prepares for her middle school Commencement and The Ever Important Commencement Dance. The love of my life is moving 600 miles away in a month for at least a year, and I have shoulder surgery to undergo! Whew...what can happen next?

Oh, and I received a call from Old Blues Guy. He is happily undergoing his rhab in Southern Cali still and constantly referring to PREHAB for guidance. He says that PREHAB has absolutely prepared him for rehab and because of that he is benefiting tremendously while he watches others around him flounder. It enlivens me to think that any of my humble words could help a poor soul so. I am forever in awe of my mysterious ability to conjure the right words at the right time. I am happy to assist OBG and all these other souls in such anguish. I only wish I could do more.

Obviously, a rest will have to wait...

Joe leaves here tomorrow. He will begin what I have termed his need to "face the music". This is intended to be a triple entendre. He must face the music of his very short, yet intense relationship with an acquaintance of mine, he must return to London soon and face whatever charges or accusations regarding him he may encounter there, and he must face the music within his soul. He must try to conjure the poetry and melodies of his newly formed perceptions. He must face the music of his past, while listening to the heartbeat of his present. All this while staying true to the dream of a future. And, he must stay sober.

He'll be spending a few days in Sacramento at my mother's house. Although she doesn't understand the full nature of Joe's addiction(s), mom adores Joe and they get along like peas in a pod. Joe has that ability in general. He can sit and watch Sponge Bob with my teenage daughter for hours, yet will turn around and discuss with me the nature of neutrinos and their effect(or not) on metaphysical reality. He is quite the chameleon and has a smooth natural charm that he has come to realize is much better off without the consumption of alcohol. His shared London upbringing with my mother allows her the opportunity to make her famous Shepard's Pie and other delights that only the British could love. I have never been one for British cuisine (do they have one?) and much prefer my mother's Jewish cooking. Joe also loves spending time at my club in Sacramento. He likes the warm sun and cool pools nearby, and he likes to laze in the spa area watching sports and relaxing. I will arrange for him to access the club as he wishes.

I feel extremely confident in Joe's ability to remain sober. He has integrated the teachings within PREHAB although he would never admit to it. Part of why I like to rehab people in a familial setting is so the natural process of learning is allowed to unfold. In this way I only have to be a guide and interpreter. This is always the best sort of counseling as it affords your client the opportunity to figure things out for themselves even though they are very gently guided. It requires a very gentle touch as a good therapist does not want to color the perceptions of the newly rehabilitated. Conclusions must be generated for themselves. Since I have finally gotten the time I have always craved with Joe (his very addicted person and a very busy schedule recording and gigging has required an 8 year rehab process!) Joe has been able to focus on pulling himself from the past and is now able, for the first time in a long while, to look at his present circumstance with a sort of detachment as he realizes that he is no longer the dark personage he was for 3 decades. He is now a Being of positive energy and light. He has pulled himself from the mire of his past and planted himself squarely in the now. This allows self examination in a new light and this makes forward moving plans for himself possible. It also allows him to look at his past actions as just that: past actions that, although he would no longer initiate, he is still tied to and will have to face consequences for. Physically he has never been stronger and he has gained 8 pounds since coming here. He looks awesome. Hair cut, shaved and in clean, new clothing. He performs his adl's consistently and now understands the relationship between esteem and love (see the book). Thinking good thoughts creates good happenings and helps form healthy relationships.

I am a bit disappointed with our inability to go too far from home vocationally, although I never thought Joe would ever think about doing anything other than being a poet and a songwriter. He insists he wants to perform and that that is a large part of his dream. This is something I would not argue with. I am grateful for the brief time he was able to visit a disabled center as I think it may plant a seed within him that someday could produce a tree which might bare fruit. I continually encourage him giving of himself and doing for others as often as possible. I feel like following him home and watching as he moves through the next few weeks of his life, but I realize that is impossible, and in fact, not needed. He has everything he needs within himself. I will see him Saturday when my middle daughter, Kayla, graduates from UC Davis this weekend. There will be a party and we'll see one another there, check in, then I'll return to Tahoe and he'll be off to SFO and onward to Heathrow early Monday morning. I will miss my friend and wish him well as he faces the music of his new life.

If all my patients/clients went as smoothly as the two musicians I'm working with, the whole world could be rehabbed in about a year. Old Blues Guy finished his weekend gig with such flair that his picture made the newspaper today! My sources report, as does he, that he was able to play just as great as always without touching a drink of alcohol or a hit of dope. That's 4 days of gigs in the hot sun and in a festival atmosphere! I couldn't be happier for him. This was something he thought could never be and now he is at the precipice of his future. As planned and promised, OBG made his plane yesterday and checked into a very reputable rehab setting in So Cal. He called me today to let me know that PREHAB has totally prepared him for what he is undergoing and he feels like he has a leg up on others there just starting their sobriety. They gave him zanex and he turned it down. Wow!Now, if he can stick it out, understand and obey their rules and, at least try to do AA work, he'll graduate from their and have new skills that will secure a healthier future for him, and by extension, his family.

Joe has been holed up in Sacramento for about 5 days now and he appears to be a real hit there! Evidently, he is just as charming without drugs as he is on them, and without the anger-fueled rages brought about by alcohol, he has made quite a few friends already. He has been attending one hot yoga class a day-minimum- and he is eating well, performing his adl's and, in general, doing really well! He has written another song (I think that's about 4 since he's been here). Of course, we are both still anxious about his well being when he returns to London in about 2 weeks time, but I have started making inroads there on his behalf. I'm trying to line up secure digs for him-maybe a sober living environment, and also trying to see if I can secure some volunteer work for him at a disability treatment center or some similar place. In doing this now I hope to create a "moving" situation for Joe so that he doesn't have alot of time to miss his old lifestyle and "friends".

Strangely quiet here, I can take some time out to pay attention to my personal life. My middle child is graduating from UC Davis, and my youngest daughter is being promoted to high school. My mother is due back from Cleveland and I have one of my ex-wives moving in to care for her (drive, cook, etc). This is a happy coincidence as my ex-wife had just become homeless. Now, she and her 7 years old son (from another liaison) will have secure digs. This also gives me some much needed leverage over my 13 year old as she realizes that if behavior is not exemplary and her grades do not maintain a 3.5, then it is going to be an easy deal to move her to her mother's (my mother's) for future raising thus allowing me some much sought after freedom. I have been raising children now for 27 years, and with only a few more on the horizon, I find myself looking forward to life unencumbered by children and their associates!

I had to turn down a new client as I will not work now until September. This next few months will be focused upon resubmitting my book to publishers and promoting the existing piece (getting it out on ebook links and such...). Two more weeks with Joe, then a nice few weeks off...ahhhhhhhhhh.