My experience this summer preparing for my first drug test

I'm hoping to (as briefly as possible) relay my experience this summer preparing for my first drug test. It has been, by far, one of the most stressful, time-consuming experiences of my life. There may end up being a few questions embedded in here, but other than that just hoping for people's responses/reactions or whatever. Hopefully someone will even get something out of this themselves.

I have been an everyday toker for about 5 years. However, the last time I smoked was May 19, which was the day before I left school for the summer. In the past I have smoked at home, but shortly after I arrived (May 22 or so) I was notified that I would need to take a pre-employment drug test for an internship I will be starting at the end of July. I completely lost my mind. Without going into great detail, the internship is almost like a class (the important piece being that I NEED to successfully complete the internship before being allowed to continue with my program). Failing this test meant not being able to fulfill my internship, probably jeopardizing my chances of ever completing my academic program, and being greatly embarrassed, among plenty of other consequences. Needless to say, I haven't even thought about smoking since (okay, yes, I have thought plenty about it, but never even considered actually doing so). At the time, I had no idea when I would be required to take the test, but I assumed it would be at a time that I wouldn't be able to pass the test legitimately. I spent many hours pouring over the internet (and this site) trying to determine what my best course of action would be.

Ultimately, I decided substituting clean urine during my test would be my best approach and I prepared to do that whenever they asked me. Long story short, it turned out I was able to put off the test until this past Tuesday (July 10), about 7 weeks after my last smoke. I got very, very lucky. I took the test legitimately, but not before I PASSED an over-the-counter home test about a month ago AND not before PASSING an equivalent lab test that I had conducted personally. NOTE: After passing my home OTC test I thought I was pretty much in the clear... then I contaminated my thoughts reading people's experiences online claiming to have failed home tests, only to then fail their lab tests. I managed to convince my primary care physician to write me a script for a drug screen (the results being private, obviously) -- THIS is something that I absolutely recommend people out there do that are apprehensive of completely trusting their home test results. I took this equivalent lab test June 25 - my physician notified me a few days later that I PASSED, and I picked up the written copy of the results so I could make sure the cut-off thresholds were equivalent to the thresholds I would be subjected to during my pre-employment test. As far as I could tell, it was an identical test. Finally, I felt comfortable enough to take my pre-employment test and be confident that I would pass - as I mentioned, I took this test Tuesday (July 10) about 2 weeks after passing the personal lab test...

So I should be in the clear, right? I mean yeah, like what are the friggin chances I could somehow come up positive two weeks later??? Anyway, I was hoping to confirm that everything was in order with my employer today (Friday) so that tomorrow when I return to school I could celebrate with a big fat blunt after abstaining for 2 months... Well, I haven't received the green-light from my internship yet. The person I correspond with, regarding all of my pre-employment requirements wasn't available to confirm that everything was "ready for me to begin" (Obviously, I wasn't going to ask directly about the results of my drug test, but more generally just make sure that I had done everything I needed). Either way, I wasn't able to settle it. I have been looking forward to celebrating tomorrow night for the entire summer and I am currently debating whether or not to go ahead and take my chances... but in the back of my head I'm so nervous that like next week they'll get in touch with me saying like "Oh, by the way, the lab lost your sample last week... Can you go in and take another quick test" or just... I dunno... something crazy like that.

After venting in this post, I think the smartest thing to do is just suck it up and postpone my celebration until I can completely confirm I am in the clear... I'm just so frustrated and annoyed that after thinking my life was over and that I had ruined everything, and then coming to find out that I'd be able to put off the test long enough to pass without [much of] a question, that I can't just unwind and actually ENJOY the one day I've looked forward to all summer. Oh well.

If you read all of this, thank you. I appreciate it and everything this site has provided me. If nothing else, I hope others in similar situations will consider persuading their doctors to order personal lab tests on their behalf, which will serve as bit more comforting than cheap test kits from the pharmacy. Some might think that is taking it too far, but I dunno if I would have ever felt comfortable enough to take the test myself without those results. And for some reason, after everything I sifted through online, I never came across this as a suggestion - it was more a product of my complete paranoia and I wasn't even sure I'd be able to get my doctor to play along.

Thanks again, everybody. Enjoy one for me.