Addiction
My nephew, Travis Schutt, ended up in the hospital last weekend due to complications from alcoholism. First in Jamestown where we visited him Saturday night. He was detoxing and could hardly breathe. We talked to him as much as we could but he was pretty out of it. Sunday he transferred to Sanford in Fargo to the ICU. His brother, Robert, kept us informed and said they drained 2.5 liters of fluid from the sac around his heart. Not good. I was planning a trip to Fargo with one of my best friends Becky on Sunday afternoon and Monday, so was able to visit with Travis on Monday morning. Thank goodness Becky was understanding when her shopping was cut to just a few hours due to the time that I spent at the hospital with Travis.
The visit started out alright but didn't end well. I turned in to the aunt from hell when he made light of the situation he was in and refused to accept that alcohol played a role in his hospitalization. Travis comes from a line of alcoholics; his grandfather, his uncles, his father. Although Tom and his brother Bill are sober and have been for over 30 years now, Travis' father, Doug, drinks - again (he was sober and started up again within the last 5 years).
Our other nephew, Robert, has been through this with Travis before, although not to this extent. Tom has been in contact with Robert about how to deal with Travis and his addiction but has yet to speak with Travis. I, on the other hand, want to get in Travis' face and make him realize that he cannot do this to his body anymore. The next time he may not be so lucky.
He's transferred to a nursing home here in Jamestown to get stronger with physical and occupational therapy before he can go to the State Hospital for treatment. The sad thing is, there is virtually no family support for him. His mother is on the west coast, his sisters are on the east coast as his is father. The family he has here is Robert, Tom and me (Bill is in AZ dealing with his own health issues).
I've never had to deal with anyone battling alcohol addiction. I'm a fixer...and I want to fix this, him...but I cannot. It's something that he has to do himself.
The visit started out alright but didn't end well. I turned in to the aunt from hell when he made light of the situation he was in and refused to accept that alcohol played a role in his hospitalization. Travis comes from a line of alcoholics; his grandfather, his uncles, his father. Although Tom and his brother Bill are sober and have been for over 30 years now, Travis' father, Doug, drinks - again (he was sober and started up again within the last 5 years).
Our other nephew, Robert, has been through this with Travis before, although not to this extent. Tom has been in contact with Robert about how to deal with Travis and his addiction but has yet to speak with Travis. I, on the other hand, want to get in Travis' face and make him realize that he cannot do this to his body anymore. The next time he may not be so lucky.
He's transferred to a nursing home here in Jamestown to get stronger with physical and occupational therapy before he can go to the State Hospital for treatment. The sad thing is, there is virtually no family support for him. His mother is on the west coast, his sisters are on the east coast as his is father. The family he has here is Robert, Tom and me (Bill is in AZ dealing with his own health issues).
I've never had to deal with anyone battling alcohol addiction. I'm a fixer...and I want to fix this, him...but I cannot. It's something that he has to do himself.
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