Losing a Friend

Knowing a little about alcohol induced liver disease and the symptoms people show as it gets worse, I've been worrying about one of my close friends.

Living a seemingly care-free, relaxed lifestyle his entire life, he's never hid the fact he likes his liquor. A few years ago a typical night would include a few drinks with dinner, a couple more at the local bar and about 6-8 more at home before bed. His personality was such that he would just brighten up a room if he had a few beers in him - laughing, joking and generally carrying on in the most lighthearted way. Doing this habitually over a few decades has begun to catch up with him though.

Last time I was at his house, after drinking two beers he was starting to slur his speech and get sleepy-eyed. If he were to have two more, I think he'd pass out on the spot. His liver just can't efficiently filter the alcohol out of his system anymore. He realizes it too, and obviously worried himself - usually when we talk now he asks a few questions about people I know who are suffering from cirrhosis - how they're doing, what their symptoms were and if there was any chance they'd ever recover.

It's sad to see my friend this way, but even after scaring himself over the fact he might not have much of his liver functioning anymore, he still continues to drink as much as he possibly can each night.

Some people may say "it's his own fault" or "he did it to himself;" while that may be true, words like that make the situation no easier to deal with. Watching someone you care about lose their health by their own hand is like watching a sandcastle get slowly and inevitably taken back by the sea. The same people that blurt out such inconsiderate things would say "maybe you shouldn't have built it so close to the waves." Well, maybe I liked it there - and maybe I liked my friend the way he was.