Alcoholism has entered hugely in my life, but not in my family life! As a young nursing student and Catholic... I noticed that there was a huge percentage of the patients that I worked with on Men's Medical were total skid row bumb - alcoholic probably with some mental illness involved there too. At that time I did not focus on that but on the alcohlism part.
This beautiful "lone tree' in the pasture gives shade to the cow and calves....My father had moved us to Minnesota the summer after I graduated high school to start a chemical dependency unit at Hennipen County Medical Center in Mpls... I ended up getting a job there for a year in order to become a resident of the state and go to the U of M much cheaper... it was there that I fell in love with nursing as I went in my little white uniform to chart lab results on charts throughout the entire hospital from the wards to the units... To check out this strange idea that I would ever be a nurse... it had never crossed my mind in my life... I became a nursing assistant and worked on the men's medical wards, and my innocent young eyes were opened in new and hard ways to the sad state of lives!
I know that the pictures that I am sharing of my wonderful time with my innocent special grandkids is not going to be in keeping with my pouring out today, but it might be a constant reminder to me that each day I need to pray for their safety in this life from the two things that are so devastating and hard not only on individuals but most especially on their families!
As an aide and later as a nursing student I became aware of the tragic thing that alcoholism is for those that suffer from it... but the tragidy is most felt and equally harmful to the family! So many of the men that I patched up and got back out on the street...to ride by on the bus to work in downtown Mpls and see them tattered and torn stumbling down the street once again in the clutches of this drug... so sad! 
I worked with men that were shut in "padded rooms" with DTs and thinking that horrible things were crawling on them or happening to them as they came off of alcohol! Then after the withdrawal and the alcohol had left their bodies and minds and spirits to laugh with them and kid them and get to know the lovable person that was underneath! To see them rise from the ashes as we leveled out their bodies and tended to the ulcers that the alcohol had made in their stomachs or other damage that living on alcohol in any form they could get their hands on had done to them... yes, even rubbing alcohol! 
This picture reminds me of the battle! Life can be a battle for us as we face those things that come between us and our God!
I know that the pictures that I am sharing of my wonderful time with my innocent special grandkids is not going to be in keeping with my pouring out today, but it might be a constant reminder to me that each day I need to pray for their safety in this life from the two things that are so devastating and hard not only on individuals but most especially on their families!
As an aide and later as a nursing student I became aware of the tragic thing that alcoholism is for those that suffer from it... but the tragidy is most felt and equally harmful to the family! So many of the men that I patched up and got back out on the street...to ride by on the bus to work in downtown Mpls and see them tattered and torn stumbling down the street once again in the clutches of this drug... so sad! 
I worked with men that were shut in "padded rooms" with DTs and thinking that horrible things were crawling on them or happening to them as they came off of alcohol! Then after the withdrawal and the alcohol had left their bodies and minds and spirits to laugh with them and kid them and get to know the lovable person that was underneath! To see them rise from the ashes as we leveled out their bodies and tended to the ulcers that the alcohol had made in their stomachs or other damage that living on alcohol in any form they could get their hands on had done to them... yes, even rubbing alcohol! 
This picture reminds me of the battle! Life can be a battle for us as we face those things that come between us and our God! As a senior nursing student at St Catherine's there was no doubt in my mind what I wanted my senior project to be... working with alcoholics at HCMC! I do not remember just what I was studying except for any hope for recovery for these thrown away people... I know that the Little Sisters whereever they are in the world see many of them on the streets and in the food kitchens where they eat with them and pray with them... When I was there working with them in the nursing sense... I also spent time up on my dad's unit and listened to him as he gave his "chalk talks" to the people that would be there from the hospital or the courts - DWI. The main point of my dad's talks was that alcohol was a drug and due to something within them - one drink would lead to another and another and another... they to recover must no longer drink and to find the strength to do that they needed to understand their "illness" and get the help they needed through AA and ALA NON... 
Yes, this is such a hard thing to do for anyone, but for someone who "thirsts" with every fiber of his body for that drink... that takes super human strength and that is why with AA - the Higher Power is first and foremost! Each of us looking at the constant battle we have with those weaknesses in ourselves...to walk away from them for the rest of our lives and never go back to them...that would be huge and so difficult,but this is what an alcoholic is being asked to do and we can take a lesson from them! We all know those that have left that behind and day by day fight the good fight!
After graduating from nursing my only desire was to work at my beloved HCMC... I needed 6 months of experience as a nurse, so I found myself working at Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home in ST Paul! It was good for me, and in 6 months I got my job on the Neurology floor of Annex 8. I learned a lot and one thing was that alcoholism was everywhere! I saw DTs and lots of sad stuff! I also loved to see the person that was underneath!
Yes, this is such a hard thing to do for anyone, but for someone who "thirsts" with every fiber of his body for that drink... that takes super human strength and that is why with AA - the Higher Power is first and foremost! Each of us looking at the constant battle we have with those weaknesses in ourselves...to walk away from them for the rest of our lives and never go back to them...that would be huge and so difficult,but this is what an alcoholic is being asked to do and we can take a lesson from them! We all know those that have left that behind and day by day fight the good fight!
After graduating from nursing my only desire was to work at my beloved HCMC... I needed 6 months of experience as a nurse, so I found myself working at Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home in ST Paul! It was good for me, and in 6 months I got my job on the Neurology floor of Annex 8. I learned a lot and one thing was that alcoholism was everywhere! I saw DTs and lots of sad stuff! I also loved to see the person that was underneath!
Well, the world has started to bury me for the day... so for now I will leave you and get busy with a pile of paper work... Lord, help me! I do hope that there is much hope out there for the futures of families that have been touched by this disease! 
Many that have grappled with this cross much like the rest of us that have had huge things to deal with in our lives... will say that they are better and more faithfilled people because of this. Any recovering alcoholic certainly has to turn to their faith every moment of every day! Whatever the Lord puts in our lives to allow that to happen is a blessing in the truth of it all! 
Lord, there are some very hard things in our lives that we don't understand and certainly don't ask for... they just happen to us... give us the grace to look to you for help to resist the things that hurt us and seperate us from you. May the person that is lost in the disease of alcoholism find you there with your arms wide in love and forgiveness... Help them to find the help that they need, and if there is only the sad hard life on the streets... Be with them there... and show them ways to find you. Jesus we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb
Many that have grappled with this cross much like the rest of us that have had huge things to deal with in our lives... will say that they are better and more faithfilled people because of this. Any recovering alcoholic certainly has to turn to their faith every moment of every day! Whatever the Lord puts in our lives to allow that to happen is a blessing in the truth of it all! 
Lord, there are some very hard things in our lives that we don't understand and certainly don't ask for... they just happen to us... give us the grace to look to you for help to resist the things that hurt us and seperate us from you. May the person that is lost in the disease of alcoholism find you there with your arms wide in love and forgiveness... Help them to find the help that they need, and if there is only the sad hard life on the streets... Be with them there... and show them ways to find you. Jesus we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb
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