JF Castillo

So today I will tell you about going to the long-term facility.

When we were at Spirit Halloween, we ended up staying too long and it made us about an hour late getting to Tuscon. It was getting dark and I cried a little when I said goodbye to Bryan. They didn't come in with me since it was so late and there was only one lady there to check me in.
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They took my suitcases to be searched and allowed me to take out a couple outfits. I had to get my blood drawn for a drug test and they had to do a body check (those are always fun! lol). Then they took me to my room.
 
For the first three days I spent my time in the building we called either "prison" or "lockdown. I called it "lockdown". Most of the people there only stayed for a day. Only those suffering withdrawal or are a suicide risk (like me) had to stay for observation.
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Unlike my room at the IIP facility where I had my own room, I had to share this room with a roommate. She was a young girl with lupus. She had been there for like three months. I don't know if they were keeping her there till her pain was managed or what. I know she told me why, but I don't remember. I don't even remember her name. I felt so bad for her because she could hardly walk, used a motorized scooter, and would cry. 
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But she was such an inspiration. She kept herself as positive as she could. She talk to me about how she used affirmations all the time. She taught me one, but I don't really remember that either. We would eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. (By the way, the food there was YUMMY! lol)
 
There was one guy that liked her, but she found him creepy and had complained about him several times. Later, he was saying how she ignored him when he tried to talk to her. I pointed out to him that he wasn't even calling here by the correct name. lol Of course that didn't change her mind about him. I just thought it was funny. 
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We spent our days there going to "classes". It was just your regular mental health facility worksheets. lol Though you wouldn't know what those are. It was a lot of grounding shit, but I can't remember it all. What a surprise, right? lol
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They also had things there like massages that you could do for free while in lockdown. I got a massage which was great and some sort of head rub thing that ended up making my head, neck, and shoulders hurt really bad.
 
But the building was beautiful. There was one giant wall of windows that looked out at the mountains. I arrived just as the sun was going down, so it was absolutely gorgeous. Really wish we could have had electronics so I could take pictures. I'll have to put some on here from their website. 
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Anyway, that it about that. lol Again, this has ended up a lot longer than I had anticipated (I keep remembering things as I write this). So, I will save the stuff about the main "campus" in the next post. I'm sure it will take a few more posts to get through it. lol
 
*Gonna keep the pics on this page for now until I finish the post they go with so I don't have to keep editing them.