[tucobear]

My husband has been a heavy drinker for years. 2 years ago bouts of illness came to a head and he was finally diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. It is slow growing in his bowel and his docs say he should live for many years even though he has spread to his liver and pelvic bones. I made the docs aware of his drinking as I was fearful due to the tumours in his liver. The docs sternly told him he must stop. Obviously he hasn’t. He dropped out of a detox after 2 days and I subsequently left him for a week until he promised he would go to AA. He went to three meetings. He has been medically retired. He does nothing all day except sit and watch tv and drink. He drinks a litre of vodka every 24hrs. Yesterday his doc told him his latest scans show his tumours are stable. This should be good news but he looks awful. He shuffles around and has started slurring his words sometimes. He sleeps in the day but not at night. His feet swell sometimes and he has bloodshot eyes.. I wonder if there is a tinge of yellow to them. His cancer symptoms are very similar to alcohol damage .. so nausea/vomiting/ fatigue/ loss of appetite/ diarrhoea/constipation/ weight loss… he tells me he drinks because it relaxes him and helps his anxiety and also helps his bowels. I know this is an excuse. He is awful to live with. Selfish, self centred, abusive at times… I have noticed recently that the drink seems to be having more of an impact on him .. does anyone have any experience on what this means? Is his liver slowing down??

Sorry for the long post. I feel trapped and I’m so sad.. for him and our family.

[scaredmom]

My son’s a heavy drinker also. I worry about the same things your talking about. It’s hard to get straight answers from doctors about his health.

I worry that something will happen and we won’t see it coming because we weren’t told how serious it was.

Stay involved in his Healthcare and push for answers from his doctor.

My heart goes out to you.

[Author]

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