Helping Others

Lea got the remaining half of her 25 broken teeth pulled yesterday.  I made a commitment to helping her get her teeth fixed last September.  She was nearly impossible to help while stuck at a dealer’s home—especially when they sold crack and heroin—her two drugs of choice.  She rarely answered the phone or responded to texts.  I was the most stalker-ish I have ever been in my life texting her affirmations that she was worthy of having teeth that worked in a painless way.

In January, she asked me for a ride out of that dealers den.  When I picked her up, she was like a ball of human Kleenex sobbing incessantly.   She ended up going to a crackhouse.  It was the first and only time in my life that I discussed not committing suicide with someone I knew and cared for.

In February, she asked for help getting medical and dental care.  We ended up going to the Healthpoint public health clinic in Redmond.  After multiple trips to the Healthpoint dental clinic, she had a few of her 25 broken teeth pulled.  It would take years at that rate to get them all removed.  They promised and reneged on a referral to oral surgery at Harborview.  Bringing in a copy of the referral form got the promised referral.

It was a tremendous victory for both of us to get her teeth pulled.  I made good on a long-term promise to a friend in dire straits—something I have never come close to before in my life.  She became the kind of person that shows up for appointments on time.  Working together, we got her teeth pulled.   She has an appointment to see a denturist in two weeks when her gums are reasonably healed.

Before recovery, I was not the guy people came to for help.  Now I have helped a friend get off heroin onto methadone and get her broken teeth pulled.  We go to a meeting every day. That is by far and away the most positive change I have ever helped another person in my life.  I am showing up in my life as the kind of person that I always wanted to be.

I am grateful for learning how to be a better friend and of service to others.  It is a dream come true for me.