High-crime junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers, and I'm Brett. That is right I'll get everyone a moment to catch their breath we all cry whatever it is you want to do But Brit wanted to come on and give you guys an update directly from her. Yeah, so I mean I've come on here and talked about it a little bit Before but I wanted to give you guys a more complete whole version of the story Obviously, yes I had a spontaneous brain bleed that landed me in the hospital and Ashley right by my side and what to brain you had two brain surgeries Yes so one was to like the emergency one get to the ER stop the bleeding and then a couple days later another one that was a Little less invasive but to basically cauterize the vessels that had leaked and make sure that you know wouldn't happen again Ideally, yeah Yeah but the bigger issue was that I was really really anemic and really malnourished and the reason for that was based in my alcohol use and alcohol abuse and that led me and Ashley and my husband and family to come to the decision that I needed help I'm gonna cry I think actually my two but I am after being released from the hospital after my surgeries after being cleared by everybody else I entered a treatment program.
I've been out now for a while. I am sober I'm playing and staying that way with the support of everyone around me including our crime junkie family Which is why I wanted to tell you that this is the journey I'm on and have been on in my time off mic and I really appreciate your your support in in This being my decision to talk about and this being something that it is my story It is my journey as much as you're on it with me But also this is as much as it is my story and my journey There are people you obviously very included that are part of my life that this still affects and this is a journey for all of us Yeah, which is part of I mean I think when people hear like my message again I was like sobbing because when I found out you know the first thing I found out was that you had this brain bleed and you're having emergency surgery And then I had no idea when I was driving up to the hospital. I had no idea No, one of the things that I've like thought about a lot in the past couple months is like what what was my bottom? Like what was my like ground zero?
This needs to change and it was a couple of conversations But one thing that continued to resonate in my mind like every time I got discouraged every time I was struggling and probably will be like Something that I fall back on for a long time is when we were talking about me needing to go to treatment You said I brought two outfits to the hospital with me one So I could sit with you while you were here and another to wear your funeral because I wasn't sure which one I would need and that statement Again, like just like echoes in my brain And I don't even know if you remember saying it but like it whenever I was like in a place where I was struggling And I was really frustrated with where I was like that and a couple of things that like my parents I said my husband has said like those things are the things that like got me through and that and really drove home like how serious My problem was and how serious I needed to be about my recovery. Mm-hmm. Yeah, because again when I drove up I was like I don't know if I'm driving up and I'm gonna get to see you after surgery because you were still in surgery I was driving or if I'm gonna drive up and then I had to go to your funeral and and then you know So then I saw you and it wasn't till after the first time that I saw you that I sat down with Justin and and then I got the whole the whole Story and he told me and I couldn't understand How I didn't know like at all and I was like I know her better than anyone in the world like if she was struggling with something I would know if she if she was hurting I would know there's deception There's cover-ups so much and there's like on the addiction side for me like there's a lot of shame Yeah, and that's for me. That's a lot of why I was deceptive or Hiding things like there was a lot of shame and is a lot of shame associated with addiction Which is another reason why it's not talked about just knowing that like I would have to even with you like my like closest This friend who knows all the other shameful things about me.
This was too much. This was too much shame This was too much. I'm not okay and on top of that You know me as kind of like a fixer like give me a problem I'll try to find a solution give me a solution I'll poke all the holes in it to make sure it's the perfect one and like this was one that I didn't have the answer to and I didn't have the answer to like what could you do like you just feel helpless and I want you to feel helpless So I'll just do this and figure this out on my own spoiler alert did not go well And yeah, there was just so much like I don't want people especially those that love me to know how how ugly and broken I am unfortunately it took a brain bleed and like you and Justin pointing out that I was still hooked up to an IV that Was still plugged into the wall. I had no clothes I could not leave the room and you tried to better me up I was my hospital cafeteria did not have milkshakes guess what the only thing I created for the entire time I was there was milkshakes actually like March into a five guys that literally 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning demanded a milkshake and Brought it to me and I remember I remember I Were like going for my phone like we've already talked to your parents and I was like Mm-hmm cool.
I know I'm like even like trying I was mobile I was getting up and out of bed and stuff like I was hooked to an IV and like I'm like kind of sitting up and like I'm gonna storm out of here I'm like it will take you five minutes to like get all the stuff that you need to walk down the hallway very slowly in like your Hospital sucks I think I don't think that it had like fully sunk into yet. You must died right like I think you were like oh I had an accident I'm in the hospital honestly It was like two or three weeks in the treatment before I even like looked up what had happened to me and like the statistics as to like How many people have this and like come back? I can tell you it's a miracle and it is yeah Oh, yeah, like the what once I looked up the statistics like basically 20% of people who have spontaneous subdural Hematoma switches when I had or a subdural Hematoma subdural Hematoma subdural So I'm here or be a trauma like a hitting your head or whatever about 20 to 30% of them regain most of their like physical Cognitive function and like I'm pretty 100% I survived something that I shouldn't have in a lot of ways both my physical Situation my brain bleed and alcoholism. A lot of people don't survive.
I'm a lot of people don't survive addiction I mean that's one of the things that I you know I can only speak as the person from the outside the person who cared about the person with the addiction and The one thing that I remember really saying to you from the hospital was because again I could see how man you are and I said I know I could you're fuming and I don't care if you're mad at me I don't care if you never speak to me again the way that I look at it I'll lose my best friend either way either you get help and stay alive and you've in hate my guts for the rest of your life But you're alive your kids have a mom you're you know or you my best friend died And I don't have a best friend and I was like I feel like I like at this point in this room I feel like I'm losing you either way I'd rather like I'd rather lose you and you be like yeah, you make it out with your life Yeah, and luckily I didn't lose you. Yeah, I'm still here to annoy the show of you So I mean it through without like too many tears I just saw one one beautiful little tear that So again each one of your other's been our third best friend for the last five years which is wild and so we just wanted to Have this conversation with you just in the spirit of being a hundred percent open a hundred percent honest and hoping that this Empowers other people to do the same. Yeah, and one thing I might just be worth mentioning. What's life for you now?
Oh, yeah, recovery is like a full-time job. I swear So I am the treatments that I got I went to as a 12 step program. So I'm participating in 12 step meetings I'm going to both individual and group therapies once a week. I'm reading a ton of books on recovery I'm putting myself in recovery Community used to be more people.
I'm really doing a lot of work on myself Which like is also including a lot of people in my circles doing work while my relationships and really like a pillar of of my recovery of recovery of recovery in a 12 step program is rigorous honesty and so like Ashley said like it only felt right for Us as friends me you Ashley like the crime-dunk community My people and for my recovery to be completely honest about this So bringing you in is is part of my recovery and something that as much as I'm doing for you guys and to bring you into our circle Even deeper also for me. So I thank you guys so much for all of your support and love like I really can't say how like seeing those DMS for the past few months have made me feel it's been amazing And so on that note the last thing we want to do is rush into anything So you guys will still hear just my voice for a minute again. We want to make sure you have I'm ready Yeah, and you know us we don't say hey, here's a problem in the world without saying hey Here's a solution or way to help if you or anybody you know or love is struggling with addiction is struggling with alcoholism Reach out in the US there's the substance abuse and mental health services administration hotline That's 1-800-662-HELP You can also text your zip code to help the number four and letter u or visit S-A-M-H-S-A dot-gov and there's a ton of resources there for people in active addiction for people who are in recovery for family members For loved ones or friends. It's a great resource that's out there.
Alright. I'll see you guys on Monday. You guys all see Brad soon