Alcohol

I've never been much of a drinker of alcohol. I used to hang out at an Applebee's bar, and sometimes I would have a beer, but usually it was just iced tea. 

However, in the past year, I've put the pedal to the metal and my consumption of vodka went through the roof. I'm an artist (writing is an art) and everyone knows artists are flawed -- especially the great ones. Look at van Gogh -- he cut off an ear. Artists are famous for drinking themselves to death. Hank Williams. John Bonham. Amy Winehouse. It's a long list, my friends.

My father was an alcoholic. His brother (my uncle) was an alcoholic. His brother's son (my nephew) was an alcoholic. I've no doubt that my family tree, especially on my father's side, is littered with alcoholics.

So I've been trying to cut back. I think I will have to stop completely. I'm okay with doing that. My father was a heavy drinker for many years, and then he stopped completely. But if he went to a party where alcohol was available, and if he was offered a drink, he would accept it. It's a social politeness, But he would never drink more than one or two drinks and he never resumed buying bourbon. But he did have an incentive to quit drinking: his doctor told him on several visits that if he (my dad) didn't quit drinking then he (my dad) would die soon. 

continued a day later... 

I too have an incentive. I've been drinking to get to sleep. My doctor refused to prescribe sleeping pills or even mild tranquilizers for me. So I turned to alcohol. However, I have to drink a lot more than I should in order to get to sleep.

Early Monday morning I got up to drink another shot so I could go back to sleep. But something went wrong and I fell down and hit my head on the floor. I think it knocked me out. Nuria found me but I was too heavy for her to get back into bed, so she called 911 and asked them what she should do. Fairly quickly the street in front of my house looked like a parking lot for emergency vehicles. There were two police cars, two fire trucks, and the paramedics in an ambulance. She said there were eight men in my bedroom trying to talk with me, but I was not responsive. So they took me to a hospital. I "woke up" in an ER room next to a nurse's station. I was there for about six hours before they released me.

I told Nuria that I wasn't going to drink any more alcohol and I meant it. Alcohol is not good for me. 

I had some debate about whether I should publish this blog. I felt like I shouldn't. Nuria encouraged me to publish it. She said there were millions of people like me and some of them may find my blog and benefit from reading about my experience. If you are one of them, you know that what happened to me can happen to you. Don't let it.