lost another one

[lugbolt]

In 1992 I was looking for work as a BARELY 16 year old brat. Guy lived next to us worked at a dealer and asked if I needed a job. Yeah sure where do I go. Ended up getting hired, the boss there remained my boss until 2018. Almost exactly 26 years and 6 months. In that time I learned a LOT, starting out with little knowledge about anything but race cars, engines, and automatic transmissions and even that was limited knowledge. The boss's wife was a key player, often behind the scenes but she was the glue that kept the business together and more importantly (to me) keeping me employed when I did stupid stuff. I learned a lot from both the boss and his wife; and about everything including life in general.

She passed last thursday. My old boss is still alive but his wife went home. They was married for 46 years and ran that business for 40 of those 46 years. Started off as a kawasaki dealership, selling 2, 3, and 4 wheelers. Then picked up Yamaha, then Deere, in 94 I think, Kubota. And of course Kubota just blew up. In 18 they retired and sold the business. I stayed with the new guys til oct 2020; I couldn't take it anymore, had no choice but leave. That or put up with "it"-which I wasn't gonna do.

Anyway she passed at age 69. She had cirrhosis of the liver, caused by heavy drinking. She liked her beer and wine, going through a 30 pack every weekend. Like many, she thought it was fine and sometimes just cute to have her alcohol while working after hours.

My uncle steve also died of the same thing and the same cause.
My best friend Franklin also died of the same thing and same cause
My uncle Greg has cirrhosis of the liver currently; probably won't make it to June 2025. Bad shape and no cure.
Several of my high school friends are in rough shape from alcohol. One dead now, car accident got him (drunk driver)

if you think it's cute to drink, that's fine but think about your loved ones. If/when you get liver trouble there is no cure for it, so you just get to suffer through it and those around & close to you get to watch you slowly die. Believe me, I've seen it many times and it's NOT pretty.

I had my fun as a teenager but once my best friend in school died due to drunk driving, I wised up. Haven't had a drop since other than an occasional ny-quil when I get a cold.

 

[old and tired]

.

 

[GrassLakeRon]

Sorry for your losses. My date is August 15,2008. Sober 16+ years. There are meetings to help with this..... No pushing.

 

[ctfjr]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend lugbolt. In my teens and 20's I was like most of my friends and drank too much. Probably one of the reasons they were betting I'd never make it to 30.
Then I just stopped. Not completely, but since then it's gone from 3-4 drinks a month to 1 a year (maybe). For me it was easy, I just didn't enjoy it. My closest friend from high school has been addicted for 50 years. He is fighting the same issues as your friends now. Its taken a terrible toll on his family.

 

[DustyRusty]

Let us not forget the other killer SMOKING. It takes its toll a little at a time, and people continue to smoke. Eventually, something will put you into your grave, but there is no need to give that unnecessary assistance to speed up the process. I know some very well-educated people who smoke pot, and they have all sorts of reasons that they can give you that it is different than tobacco. I'm not buying it. It is just another in a long list of things you can put into your body that are not good for you. I don't care if someone smokes tobacco or pot, drinks in moderation or excess, or does other foolish (my opinion only) activities that will lessen their longevity. As long as your activity doesn't affect me, have it. We all control our destiny to some extent. How well you do that is entirely up to you.

 

[PHPaul]

1994-ish for me, don't remember exactly. Third time was the charm. First two times I'd go a year or more and decide I could have "a" beer. Which quickly became a couple, then a sixer, etc. Haven't touched a drop since and STILL don't dare to.

 

[Moose7060]

I have an allergy to alcohol and always end up in spots. Spots like the hospital or jail.

 

[D2Cat]

It has always amazed me how folks give details on how to take care of things in their life, like their dog, horses, cars, even tractors (have to have the correct oil and changed in a timely fashion, correct grease, etc).

All material things that can be replaced, but they consume something that destroys themselves. Seems hypocritical?

 

[Henro]

It has always amazed me how folks give details on how to take care of things in their life, like their dog, horses, cars, even tractors (have to have the correct oil and changed in a timely fashion, correct grease, etc).

All material things that can be replaced, but they consume something that destroys themselves. Seems hypocritical?

You mean like greasy french fries and hamburgers? Excessive salt intake, Lots of sugar and artificial sweeteners? Etc, etc...

No argument here!

Just seems like we may tend to pick one item to condemn and ignore the rest...

Ummmm...Bacon!

 

[GrassLakeRon]

You mean like greasy french fries and hamburgers? Excessive salt intake, Lots of sugar and artificial sweeteners? Etc, etc...

No argument here!

Just seems like we may tend to pick one item to condemn and ignore the rest...

Ummmm...Bacon!

Three years this February the Cleveland Clinic took what was left of my stomach, part of my small intestine and a cancerous lymph node out. I stay way from almost everything.

 

[WFM]

Addiction is a hard hard thing.
For me its never been booze. I don't drink a drop. Never have.
But food. I've lost and gained 100's of lbs several times in my life. A endless cycle.
The odd thing about Addiction is the one with issue never really sees it. Or just denies it i guess.
I'm sorry for your loss. Booze is really pushed in our society if you look at every sporting stadium or event. Here in the healthy state of Maine we have hundreds of brewerys and hundreds of dope stores. Lots of DWI's people just get loaded and drive. Booze and Pot.

 

[DustyRusty]

Addiction is a hard hard thing.
For me its never been booze. I don't drink a drop. Never have.
But food. I've lost and gained 100's of lbs several times in my life. A endless cycle.
The odd thing about Addiction is the one with issue never really sees it. Or just denies it i guess.
I'm sorry for your loss. Booze is really pushed in our society if you look at every sporting stadium or event. Here in the healthy state of Maine we have hundreds of brewerys and hundreds of dope stores. Lots of DWI's people just get loaded and drive. Booze and Pot.

 

[skeets]

Sorry for your loss,,,
When I came home from the Asian vacation, I never though much about a lost week end. And when I woke up one morning and figured out they could make it faster than I could consume it, the fun went away and so did all the strange things that went along with it

 

[dlsmith]

I lost my younger sister at age 71 last month, a lifetime of smoking and drinking ruined her liver, kidneys and lungs. The last 10 years, after her husband passed from cancer (that's another story) she went down hill steadily. The last couple of years, she was mostly housebound except for doctor visits, and I would pick up prescriptions and other necessities for her. It was a tough thing to watch her health get worse and worse until when she finally passed, it was a relief to see her out of pain.

 

[hagrid]

Priapism is the most insidious killer of all the maladys.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Priapism is the most insidious killer of all the maladys.

HORRRIBLE WAY TO GO!

 

[lugbolt]

Let us not forget the other killer SMOKING.

watched my grandmother slowly die of smoking related cancer but she didn't smoke; grandpa did (was a heavy smoker). I was in the room as she was gasping for air, just couldn't breathe very well. Occasionally she'd cough up some brownish reddish stuff and spit it out on the floor, doc said it was part of her lungs, they were in terrible shape. Watched her gasp and try to say things but she couldn't get enough air. Finally just couldn't breathe anymore and suffocated. Wasn't much the docs could do. I can still hear her voice occasionally and I can see her face. I think I was closer to grandma than I was with my own parents at the time.

Dad smoked.
Mom smoked. Both until 1984, when my brother was born. They quit cold turkey and never looked back. My dad passed a couple years ago and the doctors kept asking if he was a smoker. I told them that he was not but was until 1984. They all agreed that his heart conditions were directly related to smoking. Even after all those years of being smoke free, the damage was still done. My mom has a brain tumor that is inoperable, I asked the neuro doctor if smoking had anything to do with it and she said probably not but there is not enough evidence to know one way or another with 100% certainty. IOW, maybe, maybe not. But she did say that quitting that long ago was the second best thing she could do aside from not starting in the first place.

Last job I worked, the boss let people smoke in the shop. Sales guys came out for a break, parts guys, and of course the 2 service guys were both heavy smokers. Illegal in this state, but the boss did not care as he couldn't have cared less about the service department in general except when it came time to count his money, then he cared--typically when the numbers weren't what he wanted. If better than he wanted, we never saw him nor heard from him. So I spent the last 2 1/2 years of my career around that, which is a major reason I quit. Prior to that, smaller shop/different owners (got bought out by new owners), boss and I tried to keep them outside per the law, but they'd often stand in the doorway and often with the doors up. I looked forward to winter when they HAD to go outside (doors down) but the heaters were subpar and it was usually 40-55 degrees in the shop. Beats inhaling cig smoke though.

now a lot of guys are vaping. I know nothing about the chemicals in it, but they think they can just do it anywhere they want. Same for the potheads in certain areas. I went to Colorado a while back on a short vacation and everywhere we went, stunk like skunk. There is nowhere that we could go to escape it, nowhere. Walmart, restaurants, resort, gas stations. I won't go back for that very reason. It's getting that way here too, wife and I went to the grocery store to get groceries the other day and some moron standing outside in the doorway enjoying his joint while the rest of us got contact high. Wife always said that smokers are the least considerate people on earth. I think there's some truth to that.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I’m 75. In my youth to late 20’s I witnessed much of what is discussed above in my larger family, except for Priapism although similar symptoms appeared often enough related to being in close proximity to any woman but subsided in a reasonable time frame, thank goodness. My male ancestors died in their 50’s of heart disease, alcohol, smoking, and some friends died from drugs. It was the 60’s after all. One of my working brain cells told the few others that going any of those ways was probably not a good idea despite what the ads and what my friends said at the time.
I’ve had experience with most of those things but resolved to see the World sober, free of smoke and purple haze, as well as eating real food made of edible grains, vegetables, some meat and even a little red meat on occasion. Just moderation, nothing extreme. I’ve really enjoyed life, never thinking I was missing much and not longing for anything.
4 years ago I began having Angina and after a stress test got a stent. I was suprised because my cholesterol levels were the envy of anyone who heard about them. I asked the 3 cardiologists involved in my heart assessment what went wrong and the best they could tell me was I was an anomaly, and that my condition was probably genetic. The conclusion was that had I not practiced the moderation I did, I would probably have died in my 50’s of a myocardial infarction.
Oddly the cardiac rehab recommendations changed my life very little. I do eat less red meat, a few more salads and steamed or raw vegetables, I walk my Jack Russell about three miles every day and make life choices to enjoy him, my family, friends, and the World around me. I have to thank those few rational brain cells from 50 years ago.