Hello, I am an RN from PA who recently had to surrender my license due to substance abuse addiction. I faced felony charges for diversion of medication and I know have 8mths clean. I went to jail for 3mths in Nov and rehab in Feb(part of the condition to get released from jail) I went to court and received 21mths probation which I currently am doing now. My license is still active in PA, I'm told by my D&A counselor that all is not lost and with time and recovery I can get back my license. I am keeping an open mind about this and staying optimistic, yes I made a horrible mistake but I am not a bad person. I worked very hard to graduate with honors from nursing school, and noone can take my education away from me, I refuse to believe that the rest of my life will consist of working at minimum wage jobs, or as a waitress (which I currently do right now) because of one mistake. I am going to do whatever it takes to turn this situation into something positive, yes it will be hard and believe me sometimes I feel like giving up. However, this disease took away my family, my children, and my career, my livelihood and I absolutely will not allow it to take away anything else. Every day I go to work is a humbling experience, none knows I used to be a nurse because obviously they would wonder why I am working as a waitress, so basically I now take orders from people who are a lot less intelligent than myself, and I have to pretend to not be as smart as I really am. Needless to say this is why I refuse to allow this to be my reality for the rest of my life. This disease is a disability just as cancer and diabetes are a disease, we don't treat people as freaks if they have cancer or question why someone with heart disease had a fatal MI, why treat the disease of addiction any differnt. I started to put out my resume for positions I believe I could do that pay more than my waitressing job, I'm going to be honest about my addiction and recovery because I am not ashamed of it, I am proud to be in recovery. I am looking into going back to school for D&A counseling or perhaps to work in a rehab with D&A patients. Whoever out there that is in a similar situation I would love to hear from you, and please do not give up those in this world who shun us away because of this disease are close minded, God did not bring us this far in life to fail.