Post by
Jose R Miranda
I know this is a long post, I apologize, but please take the time to read this. This is important, for some it is a matter of life and death. It may sound like I am being dramatic, but I assure you I am not.
*****WARNING*****
**Parts of this post are difficult to read and contain details of traumatic**
**events. If you are sensitive to this type of information, please use discretion** **if you choose to read this post. It is also best to not expose children to**
**this post, especially younger children. **
I need to tell a story, most of you have seen or heard this story, some have the complete story, some got the story with details left out. Some thought the story had to have more to it (it did), some even asked about the parts that did not fully make sense. Some got the rest of the story; others got a vague answer (I said âI donât knowâ a lot).
Sunday December 3,2023
It was a lazy Sunday morning, I had stayed up too late with Ashley the previous night and got up way too early (2 insomniacs living together, getting up too early after staying up late was something we did a lot.) and played video games together. At about 9: 30 (we stopped playing a game together at 9: 22) we realized that it had gotten later than intended and we had not fed or walked our dog. Ashley said she was tired, so I reminded her that we had stuff to do and got ready to go outside and headed. I went outside for about 15 minutes. When I came back inside Ashley, as I expected, was laying down, so I went to my computer, checked emails, and did other things while I waited. I went to check on her, to remind her about the things we were supposed to do that day. I often check on her while she naps, but usually it was just looking in on her. She did not respond to me, so I thought she had fallen asleep, so I decided to let her rest a bit and went back to my computer. About 15 minutes later I went to check on her again and being a bit impatient tried again to remind her (softly talking to her) but she again did not respond. I watched her for a minute or 2 but was not worried. At about 1017 or so I went to check on her, when I got up from my computer and walked into our room I immediately got a feeling something was wrong, I tried to brush it off , I thought I was being paranoid, but I started shaking Ashley foot calling out to her, I called out to her louder and louder and shook her foot more and more, I even hit her (something I would never normally do), all got no response from Ashley. With growing panic, I climbed up on the bed and rolled her over. I immediately saw signs she was in respiratory distress, and after checking I was not able to find that she had a pulse of any sign or breathing. In my state I doubted my finding, so I went to get two things, my phone, and a pulse oximeter, I came back with three things. I quickly got my phone and went to Ashleyâs bag where I knew she had a pulse oximeter. When I got to her bag was when I saw something I did not want to see. It was visible enough so when I walked to our kitchen I could see it, hidden enough so I walked by it several time I did not see it, on the kitchen table a piece of square aluminum foil. (I knew at that point what I was dealing with, I am going to finish the sequence of events but I will explain the significance of this aluminum foil), It was hidden enough so I was able to walk through the room without seeing it but not really hidden well, (she didnât want me to know because I was going to be disappointed, but she didnât want to keep the secret from me) I think. When I saw the square I knew I was dealing with an overdose and made sure to grab Narcan on the way back to the bedroom and immediately administered the first dose and put the pulse oximeter on her finger while dialing 911 at 1020 I attempted to get the pulse oximeter to get a pulse but never succeeded. I had to go open locked gates to allow help access to the property and so a ran as fast as I could opened the gates and as soon as I got back to Ashley I got to work (I was already hearing sirens coming), first a 2nd dose of Narcan and then I had to get her off the bed to perform CPR, I got her to the floor and began to perform CPR. I performed CPR until police arrived (in this area a lot of times police respond to calls when CPR is in progress, and always respond when the calls involve overdose of any kind) I was given and administered a third dose of Narcan and eventually the police took over CPR. A total of four doses of Narcan were given to Ashley before she was put in the ambulance and taken to the hospital.
It took me a couple of days before my consciousness really let me realize what caused me to realize what made me realize something was wrong. Ashley when she slept always breathed quite loudly, sounds strange but it would put me to sleep a lot of time, just listening to her breath.
She breathed so loudly that I could usually hear her from the foot of the bed. I would often check on her while she napped and cover her with blankets or just listen to her breathing and honesty. I love her so much and everything about her that I was in awe just watching her sleep, I am lucky to have had her in my life. That day blame it on lack of sleep, or me not feeling well (she was going to take to me emergency room that day) but I am almost certain now, what triggered my realizing something was wrong was I did not hear her breathing, and I donât know if my mind is messing with me but I donât think I heard her any of the times I checked on her.
The aluminum foil piece? The significance was it had a brownish substance on it, with a straw next to it, and a lighter, the substance was Fentanyl. Ashley battled addiction and lost her fight. Somebody introduced her to opioids, and she found a way to escape from the feeling she had from past trauma. All addicts have this in common, some will say they get high because high because âit feels goodâ but what doesnât feel good about being sober, EVERY addict gets high because they are feeling something that they do not want to feel and getting high makes that feeling go away, even if it is for a short time. I knew she was an addict. I saw the signs and we talked about it, and I helped her stop (I had hoped permanently) but as is common with addicts we relapse. Yes, I say we because while I have a number of years under my belt sober, I too consider myself an addict. My drug of choice was not an opioid but another substance. The problem is today you go buy âdrugsâ on the street and even the person that you are buying it from will no always be able to tell you exactly what you are getting, Marijuana even, good old ânaturalâ weed on the streets (you know, from your dealer, your âconnectâ, your plug) you can buy weed that âgive you a better high than that stuff from the dispensaryâ. You know why they make that claim? Because even good old ânaturalâ weed is always what it seems these days. I am focusing on weed because the argument is how safe it is, âyou canât overdose on weedâ is only true if the weed is pure. They use so many things that could harm addicts to âenhanceâ the high, they will even lace the weed with Fentanyl. The point is you donât always know what you are getting unless you buy it from a legal source. If is there is a legal source in your area.
Now letâs get some facts straight about fentanyl. The first one is something that I have seen on the news overdose from touching someone that is overdosing, that is used by news outlets to be more dramatic, overdose is not a contagious disease. I have now been in contact with 2 different people that had experienced an overdose on opioids and administered Narcan⌠neither made me high in the drugs nor made me overdose. Of course, take normal precautions that you would take doing first aid on someone but please do not be afraid to help! The news stations say things like this, and it will make people afraid to help and people will die. The second thing is generally speaking the forms of fentanyl sold on the streets are solid pieces, white looking substance about the color of white chalk, it can come in smaller pieces or one larger piece (because of Facebook rules I am not posting photos, but they can be found online. This post may be stretching the rules already.) I do not recommend it but coming in contact with it is NOT generally instantly fatal! (I am not saying it is 100% safe to just handle the stuff) This again is something the news overdramatizes, in preparing to do the drug many addicts will use their bare hands or teeth to break it into smaller pieces if it is in a larger piece. However, having said that, being in skin contact with the solid form of the drug may not be instantly fatal but definitely wash your hands after coming into contact with it, if it is on your hands and you rub your eyes⌠that is a way into your body and who knows how your body will react. The takeaway is this: please donât be afraid to help! You see someone that needs help, and you can safely do so please donât be afraid to help.
If you know anyone that needs help with substance abuse, please get them help. I recommend everyone carry Narcan (common name for naloxone) . It is available free in many places and will reverse any opioid overdose that is caught in time, which is the keyâŚtime. Next Distro organization (
Nextdistro.org) has great resources and information with training videos. They also have a program where they will send free Narcan to people in certain locations (California where I live is included in those locations, I have been carrying Narcan for over a year now.)
Another avenue to get help with substance abuse is 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (
988lifeline.org or dial 988 from any phone within the United States) despite the name they can help with substance abuse along with mental health crisis whether for yourself or a loved one.
I hope this helps people. I do not want anyone to go through my experience. Finding a loved one that has overdosed is an experience that changes one for the rest of their lives. Nothing can prepare you for it, the best thing to do is to stop the people that are suffering with addiction or try try to stop them ahead of time, before they fall into addiction. Get them help before they fall into addiction, if possible, if not get them help to recover from it.
I lost my love to this. I lost my sweet Ash. I don't want anyone to go through this agony. She was my heart.
See you on the other side Ash! 
