Prayers
Answered
Two years ago today my mom started living a sober life, ever since I have had a clean and sober mom. Considering that earlier that May/June we put dad into a nursing home for alcohol-related dementia.
His brain damage was all over, meaning he would never come back to us as a lucid father. He knows who I am, he's happy and content, even extremely well taken care for; but I will never have my daddy back the way he was meant to be. The daddy I talked to everyday on the phone. The man who has taught me so many of life's lessons, to which I'm so grateful for. But to think I could have lost both parents to the same disease, the disease that affects so many Americans& their families... Leaves me very grateful for the fact that my mother has done this for herself. That she wanted that change and wanted to better her life.
Alcoholism is a scary addiction, I've seen it affect so many loved ones. So many loved ones being hurt by the affects of their loved ones having it. And the worst is the loss due to the disease itself.
Here in the United States it is estimated that 10% of men and 3% of women struggle with alcohol addiction problems. A majority of alcoholics suffer great emotional and physical problems due to their drinking but continue to use alcohol. They develop problems in their personal lives with those who love them, problems with employers who become fed up with their deteriorating work performance and problems with their education due to skipped classes or failed exams. Physically, there are countless health problems that alcohol addiction causes. The most well-known include alcoholic dementia, increased chance of cancer, nutritional deficiencies, cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, polyneuropathy, heart disease, sexual dysfunction, and death.
My dad was found with pneumonia, malnourished, cirrhosis, and alcohol related dementia. We were told he could never live on his own ever again, that this is the way his mind would be for the rest of his life.
This was the most heartbreaking news a daddy's little girl could hear.
Sure my dad is safe, happy, content, and well cared for. But mentally he is not there. My dad was so intelligent, just a sharp and witty guy. He was the apple of my eye.
To lose him this was never gets any easier and it never will, because my daddy and I had such a strong bond, he was both my father and my friend. And I will always miss the man he was. He had gone 13 years of sobriety his birthday of sobriety was on my birthday. How amazing and such an honor to share that. But after he got married to a woman who drank infront of him everyday, had 5 children, and spent money like it grew on trees, as well as my brother having cancer; dad slipped. He started drinking, got divorced, lost his home. A home he built, we cleared that property together, and it was beautiful. Right off the Tensaw, gullys, a stream that ran through the back of the house that would just relax you like a spa, swamp in the back of the eight acres he owned. Big boulders you could sit on off to the right overlooking a gully that had the same stream running to the Tensaw. Deer would come right up to the house, wild turkeys too! And they were used to us, so they wouldn't run off.
Losing this land, this house, his love, drove him to drink more heavily. He lost his job, he ended up losing everything. He had been gone 5 days lost, looking for his house, he had ataxia and was going through dt's while driving, the Sheriff thought he was drunk. But he wasn't so on memorial day weekend my exhusband and brother went to pick up my dad, he fell while under the care of the sheriffs dept. and protocol is to send them to the hospital. It was then we received all the bad news at once. We had to find a place that would take a 58 yr old male who was a flight risk and fall risk who was also an alcoholic. After calling almost every place in Mobile and Baldwin County we finally found a place in Robertsdale who could take him. They just love him! He is still a funny guy, and he helps take care of the other patients. This was a Godsend.
But it still doesn't give me my dad back and I have to accept that he is never coming back to us. As long as he is here is good enough, but not easy.
This is one grandeur way that alcohol has affected my life. The other would be my mom. It kept our relationship estranged at times, and tension was always sky high between us. Of course there is much more to this, but that is all behind us now. Now I not only have a newfound friend but a mother as well. One with the same sense of humor my dad had now that she's sober. So much good has come of this, more than could ever be expressed by words.
Today we rejoice and we thank God for saving our mom from that destructive path she was on. Today we thank God for being able to still have dad with us, no matter how far his mind is away from us and him. And we are very thankful on this special day, to have our mom back, happy and healthy.
Some statistics on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:
. The American Drug Council Education estimates that between 10 and 15 million Americans
face alcohol addiction.
Also up to 4.5 million of these are teenagers. The likely hood of someone who drinks at an early age (such as teenage years) are more prone to face addiction later on in life.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) collects global statistics on the effects of alcohol addiction. These statistics indicate that alcoholism goes far beyond the borders of the United States:
•Almost 4 percent of deaths worldwide — 2.5 million people each year — can be attributed to alcohol abuse.
•Over 6 percent of deaths among males throughout the world are alcohol related.
•About 9 percent of deaths among people ages 15 through 29 are alcohol related.
•Most alcohol-related deaths are caused by liver disease, heart disease, cancer and accidental injuries.
😊•••So a big congratulations to my wonderful mom on her second year of sobriety.•••😊
Holley💜
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