Wash your hands, the experts say, again and again and again.

Flu has permeated South Florida.

Surrounded by my son’s friends, many in long-term recovery, it makes me wonder.

What is someone with an addiction to painkillers or alcohol supposed to do when a hacking cough keeps them up at night?  Or a fever? Or an illness or injury?

Jacob once told me that an addict learns to advise medical professionals about his condition before receiving treatment.

I learned this when he needed wisdom teeth extracted.  Although it was years ago – before his first inpatient treatment began – I recall the incident vividly.

The oral surgeon was someone I knew well. What would he give Jacob for pain, both during and after the procedure?  Was it my responsibility to warn him of my son’s addiction?

This was before Al-Anon. I still believed I could control my son’s life.

Jake was asserting his independence, I remember feeling proud of him.

Here he was, unsteady and unhappy with his life, but taking up for himself.

“I’ll tell him,”he said.

It was much later that he told me. Not only had he taken all the pain medication he was prescribed, but within hours, instead of days.

That was long before his long-term recovery took hold – and mine..

But that memory returns when I see him or his friends suffering from even the most common ailments.

Not my business, but I am curious what gets them well.  Someone with an addiction must question any medication, – over-the-counter or duly prescribed –  by well-meaning physicians, yes?.

There’s a certain vigilance about sickness that surrounds them.  Their lives may depend upon it.

It’s just another reason to admire a loved one or friends who live sobriety every day.

Because even addicts get the flu.