Wake up and smell the vodka
This morning on a typical Monday, where my day begins with way more than I have time to do, I walked Loca around the bayou and back along the shady street behind us and then hurried up to go take my mom to the doctor. I guess I don’t even have to say what he told her – quit drinking – but what was different about this doctor was he was stern and compassionate at the same time. He opened her chart and showed me the last ten years of his appointments with her. He said, “Look here in 2002, where I write – QUIT DRINKING!!!” “Look at 2004, where I say, ALCOHOLISM related.” “Look at 2006, where it says Spoke to her about drinking.”
He told me there is no doctor that can help her, she has a choice to quit drinking or she will die from some alcoholism related disease – like internal bleeding, liver malfunction or you name it.
Then he turned to her and said, “You could blame what’s happening to you on anything, but what is killing you is alcohol. Your family meanwhile has got to bear the burden of your choice.”
I had a poker face the entire time and then I just asked him point blank – “If she doesn’t quit drinking, then what?”
“She will die from this.”
Later, I got a call from a friend about the IChing Master I had seen in Shanghai, she told me he said that my mother might be okay because people born in winter can handle excessive drink better than others. He said tell her to avoid the color red in 2010.