...was admitted to the hospital last week. She's a long-term, hard-core alcoholic. She survived a double aneurysm in 2006, and all things considered had a miraculous recovery. After weeks in the ICU, more weeks in recovery and a month in a rehab facility she recovered close to 90% neuroligically and the only noticeable lasting impact was a slower gait and slight balance issues.

Sadly she went right back to heavy drinking. Vodka was her drink and lots of it from when she got up in the morning to when she fell off to sleep on the couch. She also neglected proper nutrition. I doubt if on average she consumed more than 500 calories a day from solid food.

The doctor was leaning toward a diagnosis of WernickeKorsakoff syndrome. It's a severe B1 deficiency and results in damage to specific areas of the brain.

Well, she took a turn for the worse last night. Cardiac arrest. She's now in ICU on a ventilator, her kidneys aren't funtioning and her blood pressure is extremely low, requiring a transfusion and meds to boost the BP. She's also unaware and incoherent.

Not sure if she's in a coma. The doctor wants to do some additional assessments, however it doesn't look good. She was hinting a decision might need to be made soon, and I asked if she was talking about a DNR. She acknowledged she was.

The sad thing is this was preventable. She'd been sliding down the past several months. First numbness in one arm, tingling in her limbs, lethargy, weakness, etc... She refused to go to the doctor. Her boyfriend, who's also a hard-core alcoholic was also in denial and didn't think it was critical enough to force the issue.

If WernickeKorsakoff syndrome is caught early enough, it's treatable with vitamin B1 therapy. Depending how far it's advanced some or most of the symptoms can be reversed or at least mitigated. Others like memory loss & function can't, but can at least be arrested and stabilized.

The thing is the disease (alcoholism) prevented both of them from grasping the seriousness of the situation and dealing with it in a pro-active manner.

None of this is a shock to me. They are both adults (she's 52, he's 60) and over the years I tried to reason with them to moderate and at least eat well. I pushed her harder way, way back, but as you probably know that turned out to be very counter-productive. She's been in rehab twice, once under a court order.

Frankly I don't think her boyfriend is far behind her. The first thing he does after waking up is grab a beer from the fridge and that continues all day until he falls asleep in the recliner. He's definitely malnourished too, his legs have been swelling and turning yellowish and he has very little strength in them. He also has sever lung dysfunction and any little bump on his body produces nasty blood blotches from ruptured capillaries.

I don't mean to lecture anyone here. I really don't. My sister and her boyfriend might be extreme examples. However I see how horribly this has destroyed their lives and quite frankly caused pain to those who care for them.

Regardless I love them both and it saddens me they have spent the last 5 or 6 years sitting in their livingroom pretty much 24x7 drinking and watching TV. Alcoholism, especially to this degree, is a merciless thief of all life has to offer.

If this post gives only one person that little extra bit of incentive to attain sobriety or stay sober, that would be a great thing.

Best wishes to everyone who is battling this disease.