Phil,The Lord be with you, keep you calm and peaceful no matter what is
going on around you, and give you all the wisdom and discernment you need.
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 5:30 PM
Subject: Update on Brook


> At about 4:15 this morning, my phone began ringing.  The caller I D told
> me
> it was the hospital where Sandy works.  My first groggy thought was, Sandy
> isn't even home.  Why would the medical transcription supervisor be
> calling
> Sandy and at this time of the morning, too.  Then I thought, Oh man.  I
> hope
> Gretchen has not been out and fooling around and gotten hurt or overdosed.
> I dragged the phone off the hook on the last ring, thinking I was too
> late,
> and a man started asking me questions about Brook.  She had been brought
> to
> the hospital by ambulance, I found out later, because she had been at a
> bar
> with friends.  They thought she had dropped off the edge of the world,
> emotionally, so some dummy called 9 11 and she was transported to the
> hospital where my wife works.  They had her all night and put her on an IV
> because they guy said they knew she had been on something but they didn't
> know what for sure.  I answered some other questions and since Brook
> doesn't
> have insurance, they don't like keeping people like this because they know
> they will never see the money.  Additionally, the guy I was talking to was
> from the part of the hospital called West Pines which is the psych
> hospital.
> I told him we would be there within the hour to pick her up and went and
> got
> Gretchen up and told her the story.  She began getting ready to leave when
> the same man called me back and said that it would be a little later
> because
> a psych doctor was going to be in at 7 and wanted to evaluate her.  This
> cost, alone, 1500 dollars I found out when George was here and he got so
> bad, we thought we might have to go to the Emergency Room.  So, ambulance
> cost, 600 to a thousand dollars, nearly 12 hours in the Emergency Room,
> and
> a psychological evaluation for 1500 and you can see why they did not want
> to
> admit her to the psych department of the hospital.  So later we found out
> they had checked her out and they wanted someone just to be with her for
> the
> next 24 to 48 hours.  They said they believed she would be ok but they
> didn't want her to be alone.  He said, if we could take her and be with
> her,
> even if we felt it wasn't working and she wasn't getting better, we could
> bring her back.  So, about 9:30 this morning, Gretchen goes and gets her.
> Gretchen spoke with the doctor about Brook and he began asking questions
> about who Gretchen was and who I am, since Brook had given them our names,
> and he wanted to know if her dad, Gretchen's dad, was in drug rehab.
> Well,
> not exactly, Gretchen told him.  Well, what is it he does.  Gretchen kind
> of
> talked around the question but finally said, well, doctor, it is sort of
> like an inner healing type ministry.  What's the name of the treatment? he
> wanted to know.  Gretchen really felt backed into a corner on that one but
> she finally said, well, we call it Safe Place Fellowship.  Is it for
> addicts? he asked.  Gretchen said, Well, it is sort of up that alley you
> could say.  Well, he said, Safe Place sure is a good name for it then.
> she
> filled in other background information about Brook and explained how they
> just met again after more than two years not knowing where the other was.
> She also explained how Brook had no family any more and that her sisters
> and
> brothers were unknowns to their where abouts, her mother died last year,
> and
> her dad hasn't been heard or seen for literally years.  The doctor had
> Brook
> sign all the paperwork so our names weren't on anything, as far as a
> signature was concerned, and he released her.  After Gretchen left,
> somehow
> Brook sneaked a phone call to our home and I talked with her.  She said,
> They won't let me call anybody.  I told her not to worry because Gretchen
> should be there any minute.  Gretchen told me later that when the
> paperwork
> was done, Gretchen helped Brook get dressed and she saw something left on
> the bed and stepped closer to see saying, Brook, what's this.  I thought
> Gretchen was going to say a crack or meth pipe or some drugs or something.
> It was a Bible.  Brook and had either asked for one or somehow, even being
> half out of it and with her I V, hunted around for a Bible to have with
> her.
> Gretchen asked her what happen at the Bar and Brook said she started
> praying, apparently out loud, and her drinking buddies thought she had
> gone
> off the deep end.  Of course, I don't know if it is true.  I don't even
> care
> if it is or not.  Brook is in the basement apartment of our house, where
> Gretchen lives, and sleeping.  Gretchen got it out of her that it had been
> two or three days since her last meth smoke so it appears Brook has been
> awake for several days.  Gretchen told me that sleep depravation is the
> biggest worry with meth addicts and that she herself had been high for so
> many days, when she did crash, she was at a families house and she slept,
> without waking, for three full days and two complete nights without ever
> hearing a thing.  Pretty scary stuff if you ask me.  Anyhow, I figured
> something like this would happen to Brook right away and wasn't surprised.
> Something, in this whole thing, has gotten Gretchen's attention
> spiritually.
> She is acting and thinking suddenly different.  She told me, as she was
> helping Brook get dressed, the Lord spoke to her and said, "So would you
> like to have some more?"  the Lord was referring to people like Brook.
> Gretchen is pretty emotionally effected by this because I think she can
> see
> herself in Brook and maybe she really does have something to be thankful
> for.  Brook just came up stairs and sounds very weak but totally different
> than she did yesterday.  Frankly, yesterday, I thought she should probably
> be taken to the hospital then.  Anyhow, pray for her because I truly
> believe
> she wants to be free but without the Lord, it is impossible now.  She also
> said to Gretchen that she wants the Lord to take over her life and she
> wants
> to be taught what is right.  So the desire is there, thank God, and
> hopefully our prayers, too.
>
> Phil.
>