One Step at a Time - April 2018

[NoraC]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Interesting article

Did Drinking give me Breast Cancer

[Lizann]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

[MENTION=5628]Nora[/MENTION], they have adjusted my dads Meds. Hubby texted me while I was taking Mark for his procedure, my mom called and said her and dad had a really good night and he was more himself today. Marks endoscopy went well, although he is very sore now. They had to dilate his esophagus again. Hopefully this will give him relief for awhile again. He has a very narrow esophagus and food gets stuck. His doctor is one I worked with when I was at the hospital, he knows about my history and he was really great about everything. We did talk a bit. Mark will get more info on England in the next few days. He should start July 2nd, being his is moving abroad he needs to establish housing and obtain a work visa. Not sure how long that takes.
Thanks guys for your support today, the world doesn't seem so overwhelming tonight! You were here when I needed you and I love you for it!

[NoraC]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Liz - thanks for checking in. :hug: I'm glad things aren't so overwhelming tonight. :heartbeat:

Bird - how are you doing?

Rusty - you must be busy this week. Thinking of you.

Pauly, Glassie, NS, Techie, Crusader, Cowboy and anyone else that might be passing thru........a big :upsidedown::upsidedown:

[Rusty]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Good Morning, Friends!

Liz:heartbeat:So glad your dad had a better day yesterday. It sounds like the adjustment in his meds really helped. I remember a while back when you had to take Mark to the ER because he had something stuck in his throat...how frightening for him and for all of you!:sad: How long will he feel relief from his esophagus being dilated? Great job on not drinking!!! I'm glad you felt comfortable talking with your doctor-colleague. Do you miss working there?
[MENTION=2634]bird[/MENTION]-you made me laugh with your "modified" rendition of that song! HAHAH! I had never heard that version before. I have been meaning to ask you how far you are from Atlanta? It used to go there quite a bit for business. The Atlanta traffic used to drive me crazy!

Nora-fascinating article and kind of scary, too. A woman I know got breast cancer at 70...and like the Mother Jones reporter, she was very fit, no history of breast cancer in the family, etc. and her only vise was she liked a single glass of wine at the end of the day. Sorry you can't get a kitten, but I admire the way you handled your disappointment with hubs. I get nervous when you say it's really windy...I think about all the wildfires you've had. :-( How cool that you got to feel the baby move. When is J due? I keep forgetting...sorry!
[MENTION=11089]techie[/MENTION]-thank you for dropping in, sweetheart. Sounds like you had a relaxing cruise...I'm delighted that you could take a break from your cancer treatments.

Thanks, everyone, for your input regarding my hard drinking friend. [MENTION=19302]Lizann[/MENTION], I would suggest that we go out for coffee except that she is the one who calls me to get together and it's always very last minute and later on in the afternoon. SIGH. I think I will just continue to be "busy" when she calls...good thing she knows I travel a lot for work because it's always a ready made excuse for me.

Pauly-what are you up to today?

Big hellos to anyone I missed. Today it's exercise, paperwork and hair cut and color. Have a wonderful AF Friday, everyone!
[MENTION=11089]techie[/MENTION]...I just saw where today is your 8 YEAR AF ANNIVERSARY!:yay: WOW, WAY TO GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Congratulations, dear friend!!!! You are an inspiration to all of us!

[Lizann]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Happy Friday! [MENTION=1214]Rusty[/MENTION] the last time Mark was dilated was 3 years ago. Dr. said he will probably have to continue having these dilatations and be on medication for life. He has something called eosinophilia esophagitis. He's had issues with food intolerance since he was born. The diagnosis explains a lot of his bizarre symptoms. [MENTION=11089]techie[/MENTION] congrats on 8 years, that's fantastic. Thank you for still inspiring us here.
Wishing you all a great AF Friday! Should be nice and warm here, so I'll be outside today.

[bird]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Hi all,
Nothing going on here. Have my hotels booked for the Colorado trip. Talk about expensive! Oh well. It will be fun, and I have not been home in so long. My adoptive parents are buried there. My biological mother and father are still living, but I don't know them very well.......Nora, I think that booze causes all kinds of cancer. It is as dangerous as anything out there. Is it still windy? I love the wind........Lizann, I have had my esophagus dilated before. I have some trouble with it still, especially if I drink or eat really spicy stuff. Glad your dad is a bit better......Rusty, I am about 4 hours south of Atlanta. I hope to be moving soon though. I do not like Atlanta, yes the traffic is really something. Have a great haircut!....it is a very nice day. Thinking about driving down to the beach, but it is 3 hours away. Maybe....later all

[SKendall]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Nora, I read an article yesterday that said an extra glass of wine takes 20-30 minutes off your life.

[NoSugar]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Nora, I read an article yesterday that said an extra glass of wine takes 20-30 minutes off your life.

Nora and Skendall,

Alcohol is a carcinogen in addition to being toxic in many other ways but while articles like this one may inspire fear and guilt, I doubt that many addicted people stop drinking because of what they read. They just feel worse about themselves, especially if they develop cancer.

I thought the article posted yesterday was well-written and pretty compelling but the studies on which it is based are correlational - they ask thousands of people about their drinking habits over several years (which is full of inaccuracies and outright lies) and look at cancer occurrence over subsequent years in those people. After a bunch of complicated statistical analyses, they make conclusions about drinking and breast cancer risk. They can't do a study where half the women drink a set amount and half don't drink at all for some number of years and then see how many get breast cancer. That would be the only way to know for sure.

Some people who are addicted to alcohol have several other genetic factors and dietary and lifestyle behaviors that also would correlate with cancer incidence. There's no way to say that drinking per se gave the article's author breast cancer.

Further, it rarely is reported whether they mean absolute or relative risks - and it is usually the latter. For example, a paper might conclude that drinking beer increases the risk of developing stomach cancer by 50% when the risk increased from 0.02% to 0.04%. Sure, it is a 50% relative increase in risk but the absolute increase in risk is 0.02%. I would hate for a former addict to be blaming themselves for developing cancer because of an 0.02% increase in calculated risk.

That said, I wish everyone understood that alcohol is a carcinogen, toxin, teratogen, and overall bad thing to consume. Hopefully some people read these articles and are scared off from drinking. That would serve a good purpose.

I certainly avoid other toxic substances but let this one in. And became addicted. I regret that I did that but I won't be assuming it is the cause of any cancer I might someday develop.

This argument holds true for almost all advice re: nutrition and medicine that makes it to the popular press, too. Unfortunately, science is not being clearly communicated to the general public and we're making dietary changes and taking drugs based on weak or no evidence. Reader Beware!

[NoraC]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

@NoSugar - thank you. Yes - I agree with you. Articles are misleading, studies biased. Reader Beware is right.
Thank you very much for the reminder.

[NoraC]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

I thought this was really good from Belle

Check Engine Light
Sober support is like preventative maintenance.
You don’t have to wait to feel crappy
to reach for a tool in the sober toolbox.
You don’t have to wait for your check engine light to come on.

In fact,
you can bring in tools and supports before you need them
so that you can keep your sober car firmly in the middle of the road—
not drive off
not change course
not have any accidents
not need to restart
no more u-turns
no more Groundhog Day.

You don’t have to wait to feel crappy.
You don’t have to wait to need support
to put it in there.
You don’t have to wait.

In fact,
reaching out and bringing it in and pulling it close to you
and having it around you
is part of what helps you keep going.


[to listen to this as a one-minute audio, click here]

[paulywogg]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Morning friends,nice post Nora Liz,good for you on hanging strong! Bird,I'm sure your vacay to Colorado will be nice and a lot of fun Rusty,sounds like things are good in your world,yesterday at Sprouts the clerk thought the boys were mine,,,i didnt correct him!! Hahawishes for a happy,happy AF Saturday for us all!

[SKendall]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

NS, I totally agree that articles like this are not a deterrent. When I was in treatment, I remember a counselor giving us a lecture how the ethanol in alcohol will do very bad things to our body and I remember dismissing it all. Fear stories don't do anything for addicts. When we are active in our disease we are arrogant and know better.

[Lizann]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Hey guys, how was everyone's Saturday? I went to a flea market. It was so warm out, I enjoyed strolling around. Found a book for the baby, one of Erin's favorites and we were talking about it the other day.
Thanks for sharing that article Nora and NS for explaining those studies. I know how bad al is and I would just tell myself, I'll stop tomorrow, before I do too much damage, Now to undo what damage has been done. Keep telling myself everyday I don't drink is healing my body.
It's late and hubby just got home from a seminar. Have a good night!

[NoraC]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Hi everyone. Yes, I should be more careful about things I post. osteroops: Funnily enough, the thing that hit me was how I knew how bad it was for me and I kept drinking it. But, I am doing that with other things in my life still. What is wrong with me?!? I still drink Diet Coke which is just poison. I still eat too much sugar, etc. Sigh......Let's just all admit that I'm not going to be perfect in this lifetime.

Went thru some more old pics today. Trying to get things organized so I can make copies of the photos & slides. The photos I found today were mostly scenery shots from when they went cross country in their RV. Back in the late 90's. I did find some pics of my Mom & Dad together. Mom looked at the picture of my Dad and said that's a good picture. Not sure if she knew who he was or not. She recognized her brother & wife but didn't know who they were.

Hubby & I got up early & snuck out to Denny's while Mom was still in bed. She doesn't like to go out & we thought we would have quick breakfast. Hadn't even ordered yet when hubby turned on the phone app to watch the camera and Mom had gotten up. Had to rush out of the restaurant and go home. Tried to talk Mom into going to breakfast with us but she is stubborn. LOL Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

[NoraC]

Re: One Step at a Time - April 2018

Liz - how cool that you found that book for the baby! That is really special.

Pauly - you are young enough to be the boys Mom instead of Grandma!

Bird - glad you got your trip booked. Exciting.

Rusty - what exciting plans for you this weekend?