To Hell and Back : A Surgeon's Story of Addiction: 12 Prescriptions for Awareness

Here, in this raw account of one doctor''s journey to Hell and back. . .is the "prescription" that could save the life of someone you love.

Addiction can affect anyone---of any occupation, education, or social class. The most common denominator among all addicts though. . .is that they oncethought it could never happen to them.

As Head of the Department of Vascular Surgery at a large community hospital, Dr. Steve Heird was well aware of all this. Yet even as he wrote one illegalprescription after another---all for himself---he refused to believe he had a problem. He was in control. It could never happen to him.

But the day came when---tired of playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the DEA, and finally ready to accept help with his problem---Steve had to face hisfamily and go into rehab.

Everything that mattered to him---his family, his career, his lifestyle---was on the line, and he risked losing it all, to serve a ten-year prisonsentence.

"That was one of the worst days of my life" he now says. "I had hurt the people I loved most. I felt overwhelmed with shame and self-loathing. How could Ihave screwed up so badly?"

But there''s a silver lining to the cloud that followed Dr. Heird all those years. His personal healing has led to the creation of a system of strategiesfor recognizing the warning signs---whether in yourself or others---and overcoming any addictions, along with the fear and self-doubt that feed them.

In this entertaining and inspiring true-life account, and through his Prescriptions For Awareness healing program, Dr. Heird proves beyond a doubt that. ..NOBODY is entirely "above the reach" of addiction. . .and no addict need ever feel doomed to remain forever within its grasp.