Very grateful, but still stressed....

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Hi everyone, I had initially posted my story back in May and received great encouragement and feedback here, so here I am again. I also want to add that I continually stay updated on the posts here feel so glad that I am not alone. I'm not going to repeat my whole story again, but here it is in a nutshell: I had an addiction to pain pills (which I am now 5 Months CLEAN from, yeah!!!!! :)) My addiction lead me down a road of diverting from my employment which I was then terminated from ( & in a way, I feel that it was God's way to intervene in order to really get me to realize how messed up I was). The BON was notified and I'm now under investigation. When this all happened, I immediately went to counseling, began attending AA/NA meetings, found an awesome sponsor and all that. I am not working as a nurse, even though my license is still intact at this point--my sobriety is most important to me. However, can I work a job below my status such as a CNA? Does anybody have experience with this? Also, my state does have an alternative to discipline program, which I did apply for but haven't heard back yet. I'm hoping to participate. I just have so many questions about the monitoring, my biggest is being able to find a job that will hire me. Is it correct that I have to be working as a nurse while I am being monitored? I apologize if this a silly question. I know I had other questions but my time was cut short here (my daughter is trying to call me) so I will have to end this post for now. I will try to post again soon, but any feedback would be appreciated! I'm from Wisconsin also, if anybody has experience there. THANKS!

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Hello and congratulations on your sobriety! Wow oh wow, your story and the way you've reacted to it is vverbatim my story, so I get how you're feeling. We don't have an alternative program here but our monitoring is the same. Yes you will need to be monitored, basically meaning there is a supervising nurse who is available at your work place. This nurse can be the nursing supervisor of your facility (disclaimer: this is my state, I'm pretty confident it's the same elsewhere, y'all will have to weigh in) you need someone who can report on your progress.

Have you done any inpatient or outpatient treatment? Your program will want to see this (I didn't start intensive outpatient until I had 6 mo sobriety, im actually in it now and am loving it).

I am so proud of you! Seriously, and by the way- my board is very happy I didn't go back to nursing just yet- they looked very favorably on the fact that I kept myself out before I was even under investigation.

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Thanks...I remember you sending me PM when I first posted back in May with your number. ...would you mind if I called you still?

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Of course call, that is always an option. I've formed an amazing friendship with another nurse here, its been amazing.

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